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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 















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J tf.M.Caldwell Company 2 
New York ond Bdston I 





LIBRARY of CONGRESS j 
Two Copies Rocelved 

jui 10 190 r 

/7 Copyjght Entry 

y&A / 0,1707 

tflk&'CL XXc.i No. 

r /?/S~t 3 

COPY b. 


Copyright , 7906 
By H. M. Caldwell Co. 

Copyright , 7907 
By H. M. Caldwell Co. 


(Eolmttal Jlrrss 

Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. 
Boston, U. S. A. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I. The Wishbone Boat 

. 

PAGE 

. 11 

II. 

The Toy Shop 


. 29 

III. 

The Kitchen -garden . 


, 61 

IV. 

The Quackery 


. 76 

V. 

The Wishing Bell 


. 93 

VI. 

The Charmstring . 


. 114 

VII. 

In Drug Store Street 


. 136 

VIII. 

The Flowers’ Dancing School . 

. 162 

IX. 

The Dryad’s Kiss . 

. # 

. 170 

X 

Oberon’s Ball 


. 184 



y he Wishbone Boot. 

i -X 

“ Have I any more to see to-day? ” 
asked the Princess, wearily; “ I am very 
tired of hearing other people’s troubles.” 

“ Only one more, please your Maj- 
esty,” said the Chamberlain. 

“ What does he wish? ” asked the Prin- 
cess, pettishly. 

“ He is a very old man, your Maj- 
esty,” replied the Chamberlain, “ and he 
says he brings a gift of great value, 
which he wishes to present to your Maj- 
esty in person.” 

11 


9 4 


,-fcf 




THE WISHBONE BOAT 

“ Show him in,” commanded the 
Princess, and beckoned to her ladies to 
come nearer that they might see and 
admire the gift. 

“What can this wonderful gift be?” 
she asked them. 

“ I guess it’s a rare jewel,” said the 
Lady of the Bedchamber. 

“ I guess a new and beautiful cloth,” 
cried the Mistress of the Wardrobe. 

“No, no! a new dish; I’m sure it’s 
something good to eat,” insisted the Lady 
of the Backstairs. 

“ Hush! here he comes,” said the 
Princess, warningly, and the Chamber- 
lain announced in a deep voice: “The 
Wise Man.” 

The Princess saw, standing before her, 
an old man whose white beard fell to 
the hem of his long robe and touched the 
marble steps of the throne itself. In 
his arms he held an object wrapped in 
a black velvet cloth, and the Princess 
saw that his eyes were dim with years. 

12 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ Who are you? ” she asked, gently, 
“ and what do you wish? ” 

“ Your Majesty,” replied the Wise 
Man, in quavering tones, “ I am called 
wise because I have spent my whole life 
searching for Truth. I have searched 
for it at the bottom of the ocean and 
on the top of the mountain ; I have 
walked mile after mile and studied night 
after night, but I could never find it. 
Yesterday I was again upon the road, 
searching as always, but tired and dis- 
couraged. I came to a deep, deep well, 
and leaning over it to draw for myself 
a drink, I saw at the bottom something 
very bright and shining. I went down 
into that deep well, Princess, and found 
this. It is a mirror which will show 
things exactly as they are, with every 
fault and blemish brought out clearly. 
In fact, your Majesty, this mirror has 
the magical power to magnify the bad 
and make it show clearly and distinctly, 
no matter how well it may be hidden. 
13 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


Your Majesty will see that this is a very 
valuable mirror. I have brought it here 
to-day as a gift to your Majesty. May 
I uncover it? ” 

“ Your Majesty!” cried the Fool, 
springing from his place on a cushion 
at her feet, “ do not look into this mir- 
ror, I beg of you. Your Majesty is well 
and happy and everything in the King- 
dom is as your Majesty would wish. I 
have read that whoever looks into this 
mirror is never happy again, therefore, 
I beg of you, do not look into it.” 

“Nonsense!” exclaimed the Princess, 
“ how could looking into a mirror change 
things so? Besides, I wish to see how 
they will differ. Uncover the mirror.” 

The Wise Man drew off the velvet 
cloth and held the mirror before the 
Princess. There it shone, — a great sil- 
ver disk of wonderful brightness. All 
round the frame little, ugly, grinning 
faces and toads and snakes and all man- 
ner of reptiles were carved; while twist- 

14 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


mg in and out among them ran this 
motto: “ I never lie, but always tell the 
truth.” 

“ Oh! ” cried the ladies, covering their 
eyes, and the Princess shuddered at sight 
of the ugly things. Then she leant for- 
ward and gazed into the mirror. “ Oh! ” 
she exclaimed in dismay, “oh! am I 
really so hideous as that? Why, my hair 
is straight and my teeth are crooked ! ” 

“Pooh! who wants crooked hair?” 
asked the Fool. 

“ Well, it might at least be curly,” 
said the Princess, crossly; “and look at 
my nose, it is short and turns up, and my 
mouth is big and turns down.” 

“ A very good arrangement for eat- 
ing — ” began the Fool, but the Princess 
broke in again. 

“ Just look at my eyes and ears! Lit- 
tle bits of green eyes and great big red 
ears, ugh!” 

“ Well, you wouldn’t have red eyes 
and green ears, would you? ” asked the 

15 


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! m >k 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


Fool. Then, as the Princess buried her 
face in her handkerchief and began to 
weep, he threw the cloth over the mirror 
again and said to the Wise Man: “ Go, 
take it back to the place where you found 
it, and bury it so deep that no one will 
ever find it again. Tell the truth indeed! 
Is it the truth to show all the things 
which are ugly and not those which are 
beautiful? No! take away your mirror. 
No one was ever made better by looking 
in it.” 


“ That may be,” replied the Wise 
Man, grimly, “ but we must all know 
the truth and this mirror tells it. It is 
a very valuable discovery.” 

“ It does not tell the truth at all,” cried 
the Fool; “it only tells all ugliness. 
Ugliness is not truth. Go! take it 
away! ” 

The Wise Man left the room with tot- 
tering steps, and the Chamberlain dis- 
missed the Court. The ladies rustled out, 
whispering and nodding their heads at 

16 





THE WISHBONE BOAT 


each other, and the gentlemen in waiting 
followed, looking red in the face and 
very uncomfortable. 

The Princess heard the whispering, 
and a faint laugh came to her from far 
down the corridor. “ They are laughing 
at me,” she told herself, and the tears 
came faster than ever. At last the door 
closed behind the Chamberlain and all 
was still. The Princess raised her head; 
she was alone at last — no, not alone, 
for there at her feet sat the Fool, his 
head bent down upon his knees. At 
sight of him the grief of the Princess 
broke out afresh. 

“ Ah, why did you let me look in it? ” 
she cried. “ Why did you ever let him 
uncover it? Oh, I am ugly! ugly! 
ugly!” 

Then, leaning suddenly toward the 
Fool, she gazed at him curiously for a 
moment. “ Why, you are ugly, too, 
aren’t you, my Fool? ” she asked. “ You 
are all crooked and misshapen in your 
17 


=1 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 

back. We are both ugly,” and she fell 
to sobbing again. 

The Fool went white and red and his 
voice faltered as he said: “Yes, my 
lady Princess, but what is beauty, any- 
way? No one has ever found out. Why 
do you wish to have straight teeth and 
curly hair? Why should your nose turn 
BUM down and the corners of your mouth up? 

Why should you wish for big eyes and 
little ears? It adds up to the same sum 
of bigs and littles the other way about.” 

But the Princess only shook her head 
mournfully. “ I wish to be beautiful,” 
she insisted. 

“ Does my lady wish it enough to go 
upon a Beauty Quest? ” asked the Fool, 
softly. 

“A Beauty Quest! Where? How? 
What do you mean ? ” asked the Princess, 
sitting up in surprise and drying her 
eyes with little dabs of her handkerchief. 

“ If my lady will permit me to show 
her the way,” said the Fool, “ I shall be 

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THE WISHBONE BOAT 


most happy,” and bowing low before her, 
he threw open the little glass door leading 
to the terrace. 

As the Princess stepped out into the 
night, she saw that the world was white 
with the moonlight and that the stars 
were all lighted. She looked out upon 
the quiet garden and back at the busy 
palace. The lights indoors were shining, 
and she could hear the merry chatter of 
the Court. A little homesick feeling 
stole over her at the idea of leaving it 
all. No, she would give up this Beauty 
Quest, and she turned to the Fool, who 
stood quietly awaiting her pleasure. 

“ I’ve changed my mind — ” she be- 
gan, but just then one voice rang out 
shrilly above the others, “ And did you 
see her ears!” and a little ripple of 
laughter pealed forth. 

The Princess clapped her two hands 
over her ears and whispered to the Fool: 
“ Come, I am ready. Shall we be long 
upon the way? ” 

19 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ A year and a day,” replied the Fool. 
“Does your Majesty still wish to go?” 

“ Yes, yes,” nodded the Princess, with 
decision. 

Then the Fool drew from his pocket a 
little dry wishbone, so very tiny that the 
Princess thought it must have belonged 
to a humming-bird. 

“You take one end and I will take 
the other,” said he, “ then close your eyes, 
wish with all your might that you may 
find Beauty, and pull. I will do the 
same, and when we hear the bone crack 
we will open our eyes. Remember , not 
until the bone cracks” 

So the Princess took one end of the 
tiny wishbone daintily in her thumb and 
forefinger, shut her eyes tightly, and 
wished; then she pulled and she pulled. 

“Mercy! what a tough wishbone!” 
she said to herself, “ and it looked so very 
tiny. Now if I just peeped a little to 
see what is the matter — ” but at that 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


moment she heard the Fool’s voice warn- 
ing her. 

“ You are not thinking of the Beauty 
Quest, your Majesty.” 

“ No, no, sure enough, I was thinking 
of the wishbone,” she admitted. “ Come, 
let us try again.” Then the bone went 
cr-r-rack! in no time, and the Princess 
opened her eyes to find that she and the 
Fool were seated upon opposite ends of 
an enormous Wishbone, which was sail- 
ing along in the air, way up over the 
trees and the houses. The Princess felt 
a little frightened at first, but the Fool 
smiled at her so reassuringly from his 
end of the Wishbone that she was soon 
comforted. 

“ Are we really off on a Beauty 
Quest? ” she asked. 

“ Yes, indeed we are,” replied the 
Fool. “ Ask the Imp of the Wishbone.” 

The Princess noticed for the first time 
that a little fellow sat astride the head 
of the Wishbone, steering as though it 
21 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


were a boat. He had two great, gauzy 
wings that spread out like lateen sails, 
on either side of the boat, and his little 
pink feet were held tightly together and 
pointed downward to serve as a rudder. 
His face was round and rosy and full 
of fat little smiles, and from his fore- 
head sprang two long curved feelers 
like the antennae of a butterfly. In fact, 
he looked so much like a cross between 
a butterfly and a baby that the Princess 
could not have felt afraid of him if she 
had tried. 

“ Oh, Imp of the Wishbone,” she de- 
manded, gaily, “ whither are you taking 
us?” 

“ We fly, we fly, o’er land and sea 
To see what Beauty’s tho’t to be, 

To see what Beauty ought to be, 

To see what Beauty is” — 

chanted the Imp of the Wishbone in a 
high, sweet voice. 

The Princess settled herself, with a 
sigh of content, upon her end of the 

22 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


Wishbone. “ In that case,” she said, “ I 
shall certainly be able to get some for 
myself ; ” then she crossed her slippered 
toes and prepared to enjoy herself. The 
long white veil, which she wore fastened 
to her head by her little jewelled crown, 
floated out behind her, and the hundreds 
of tiny jewels which were sprinkled like 
frost over the embroidery of her blue 
satin gown flashed and twinkled so in 
the moonlight that the people who saw 
them pass overhead said: “ See! there 
goes a shooting star.” 

“ Is your Majesty quite comfortable? ” 
asked the Fool. 

“Yes, indeed!” cried the Princess, 
“ this is perfectly delightful, but are you 
sure he knows the way? ” pointing at 
the Imp. 

“ Perfectly sure,” replied the Fool. 
“ Listen to his song,” and the Princess, 
listening, made out these words: 

« Oh, come with me in the Wishbone Boat, 

It shall go sailing wherever you will. 


23 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


With a heavo-ho I if the wind doth blow, 
For we go sailing whether or no, 

On, and on, and on — and still 
On in the Wishbone Boat.” 


“ Yes,” murmured the Princess to her- 
self, “ on, and on, and on — till we find 
Beauty. That’s what we’ll do, Imp of the 
Wishbone.” Then, looking down, she 
saw that they were passing over a coun- 
try where everything looked strange to 
her. “ What land is this? ” she asked the 


Fool, 


“ ’Tis the Land of Make-Believe,” re- 
plied the Fool. “ Shall I tell you about 
it? ” and, drawing up the lute which he 
wore slung over his shoulder by a blue 
ribbon, he began to strum softly as he 
sang: 



THE LAND OF MAKE-BELIEVE 

“ Do bubbles burst and fade away 

And spill out all their rainbow dreams ? 

Do fancies fair, with which you play, 

Turn wrong side out and show their seams ? 
Do smiles go crooked, zigzag ways ? 

Do laughs turn into sobs and tears? 


24 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


Do all the weeks and months and days 
Add up a sober sum of years ? 

“ Then come and steal away with me to the Land of 
Make-Believe, 

Where wishes every one come true, 

And you do the things that you like to do, 

And the world is made to suit just you, 

In the Land of Make-Believe, 

The beautiful, wonderful, glorious land, the Land of 
Make-Believe. 

“ Do skies look black and winds blow cold ? 

Do fashions change and friends forget ? 

Does all the wealth of summer gold 
Atone not winter’s chill and wet ? 

Do birds forget the thrilling note 

They sang when all the world was gay? 

Have you forgot to tune your throat 
To singing and the month of May? 

“ Then come and steal away with me to the Land of 
Make-Believe, 

Where wishes every one come true, 

And you do the things that you like to do, 

And the world is made to suit just you, 

In the Land of Make-Believe, 

The beautiful, wonderful, glorious land, the Land of 
Make-Believe.” 


25 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ Come, that’s just the place for me,” 
cried the Princess, when he had finished. 
“ Why can’t we stop here? ” 

“ We can,” replied the Fool, “ and we 
will. What kind of beauty would you 
like to see first? ” 

“ What kind? ” queried the puzzled 
Princess, “ why — why — golden curls 
and blue eyes and rosy cheeks, of course.” 

“ Oh, yes! ” remarked the Fool, “ wax- 
doll kind. To the Toy Shop!” he com- 
manded the Imp. 

Then the Imp laughed so hard that the 
whole Wishbone shook, and the Princess 
had to take hold firmly with both hands 
to keep from falling off. 

“ Mercy! ” she exclaimed, a little 
frightened, “what in the world are you 
laughing at? ” 

“Ha, ha, ha! ha, ha!” laughed the 
Imp, and began to sing again: 


“ If I had a wish to wish — 

A whole wish to make my own, 
I’d never wish to be a doll 


26 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


Without a scrap of skin or bone, 

Just a lot of looks outside 
And a lot of sawdust in ; 

If you waste them all like that, 

You will never half begin.” 

“I’m sure I don’t see what affair it 
is of yours,” pouted the Princess, and 
the Fool said, sharply: 

“Be quiet, Imp, and take us to the 
Toy Shop.” 

Slowly the wings were furled, and the 
Wishbone Boat sank lower and lower 
until it gently touched the earth, and 
out sprang the Princess upon the grassy 
bank of a river which went gurgling by. 
She shook out her skirts and arranged her 
veil and was about to say that she was 
quite ready to start, when a little snap 
made her turn just in time to see the 
Fool slipping the tiny wishbone back 
into his pocket. 

“ Well, I declare! ” she cried, in aston- 
ishment, “ is that the way you manage 
it? Now where is the Imp?” 

27 


I 

THE WISHBONE BOAT 

“ In the wishbone,” replied the Fool, 
smiling, “ born and bred in the wishbone, 
and there he’ll wait for us till we need 
him again. Now let’s find out what he 
has brought us here to see,” and he led 
the Princess toward a wee house which 
stood a little back from the river bank. 




THE WISHBONE BOAT 



“What is this place?” asked the 
Princess, but even as she looked she saw, 
written in quaint letters upon the gable 
end of the little house, these words : 
“ The Toy Shop.” There were two 
round windows like eyes, a broad shelf 
of a roof over the door which looked 
like a very squat nose, and for the door 
itself, a round little hole, like a mouth 
trying to say, “ Oh! ” In fact, it seemed 
so much alive that the Princess bent down 
to see if she could not discover some feet 
under the little stoop, and she thought 
she had almost caught a glimpse of them 
when the Fool called her attention to a 
29 






fee 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 

motto which was writing itself over the 
shop door. The Princess saw that the 
words were being rubbed out as fast as 
she read them, so she hurried through 
the lines : 

“ If you wish to go inside, 

You have several things to hide 
Which Toy Shop people can’t abide : 

Leave your wits and hearts outside.” 

“ Dear me! ” ejaculated the Princess, 
“ how can we? and where shall we put 
them? and what shall we do without 
them? ” 

The Toy Shop suddenly winked its 
window-eyes at her, and the Princess 
read again: 

You may enter — just you two ; 

That rule wasn’t made for you.” 

At this the Princess gasped, and the 
Fool chuckled. “ They don’t flatter one 
much hereabouts,” he said. “ Shall we 
go in?” The Princess nodded, the little 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


round door flew wide open, and they 
stepped inside. 

“ Oh! and oh! and oh! ” exclaimed the 
Princess, “what beautiful dolls! Never 
were the like before.” 

Inside the shop were little glass cases 
where were displayed boxes of toy sol- 
diers and cannon, together with marbles 
and tops and tin horns. 

On the low wooden counters were 
Noah’s arks and all sorts of dolls’ furni- 
ture. Hanging about on the walls and 
standing in the comers were hoops and 
dmms and hobby-horses, and boxes of 
Jacks-in-the-Box, some tightly hooked 
and some sprung open, showing Jacks 
with hideous faces and ridiculous caps. 
And everywhere among the other toys 
were dolls, dolls, dolls. Lady dolls in 
elaborate dresses of silk; baby dolls 
asleep in their cradles ; wooden dolls 
with coffee-coloured complexions and 
crimson painted cheeks; china dolls with 
hard, tightly curled, black china hair 
31 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


and pale blue china eyes; wax dolls with 
flaxen curls; bisque dolls with open-and- 
shut eyes; boy dolls and girl dolls; big 
and little; black and white; some fresh 
and smiling, some forlornly shopworn 
and bearing tags marked “ Reduced to 
99 cents.” One and all they sat stiff and 
straight and stared unblinkingly before 
them. 

“See this peasant doll in the scarlet 
petticoat and white cap and kerchief, 
and this wax beauty with the dimples,” 
exclaimed the Princess, rummaging in 
the show-cases. 

“ Look at this,” called the Fool, bend- 
ing over a table in the centre of the room, 
on which sat a large music-box. “ Here 
goes for winding up the whole shop. 
Shall we do it? ” 

“ Oh, wait,” cried the Princess, in ex- 
citement, running to his side to look. 
“What do you suppose will happen?” 

“ Don’t know,” replied the Fool. 
“ Let’s try it and see.” 


32 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ Very well,” said the Princess, doubt- 
fully. “ I’m almost afraid.” But the 
Fool was already at work at the key. 

“There!” he exclaimed, after a few 
twists, “ it’s wound up. Now we’re off. 
Hark! what is that? ” 

A sweet strain of music fell upon the 
ear, soft at first, then louder and sweeter 
it came with a peculiar rhythmic insist- 
ence until the walls themselves seemed 
to be beating out the time. 

“One, two, three, four; one, two, 
three, four, it sounds just like a music 
lesson,” whispered the Princess, half- 
frightened. “Look! what was that? 
I’m sure that doll winked her eyes. Oh. 
they are all coming to life!” and she 
clung to the Fool’s arm in terror. 

Slowly, with many jerks and tremors 
and blinkings of the eyes, the dolls came 
down from their places and gathered 
about the Fool and the Princess, who 
clung to each other and stared in grow- 
ing amazement. Then, with a final 
33 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ tick-ee-tick-tick,” the music ceased and, 



To sit there in rows, and to wear the same clothes 
Both the day and the night? Just to think what a 
plight ! 

Now how do you think you would like it yourself? 
Wear ribbons and bows and thin lace till you froze ; 

And perhaps lose a chip from the tip of your nose. 
How would you like to live up on a shelf ? 

How would you like it yourself ? 

“ How would you like to have nothing to eat, 

To sit up and play at tea-party all day, 

With your tea-things galore, — cups and saucers a 
score, 

But starved from your crown to the soles of your 


feet ; 


Not even a bite, when you feel that you might 
Eat from oysters to raisins, and still feel all right. 
How would you like to have nothing to eat ? 
Wouldn’t your temper be sweet? 

“ How would you like to have to keep still, 

To hear others talk, and to see others walk, 

And to think of the gay, funny things you could say, 
While you hear them talk nonsense as some people 



will? 


34 







THE WISHBONE BOAT 


To hear stupid jokes told by stupider folks 

’Til you’re forced to believe that their brains are a 
hoax; 

When conversation runs on like a rill, 

How would you like to keep still ? ” 

“ I wouldn’t like it one bit,” faltered 
the Princess, still a little uncertain of 
the temper of her new friends. How- 
ever, the dolls paid little attention to 
anything but their own amusement, for 
the gentlemen dolls were inviting the 
lady dolls to dance. The music had 
begun again, and the couples started off 
at a lively pace with shrill cries of, 
“ Ladies’ Change!” “ Allemande Left!” 
“ Swing your partners!” and so on, till 
the Little Old Toy Shop fairly shook 
with the hubbub. 

When at last the dance was over and 
the ladies were being seated and fanned 
by their partners, the Princess sighed 
with relief. 

“Oh!” she said, addressing the dolls, 
“ I’m so glad you happen to be suited. 
35 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 

You might not have liked it, you 
know.” 

“ Yes,” said the Fool, “ you might 
have made it very unpleasant for us.” 

“ No, indeed,” chorused the delighted 
dolls. “ Here we are, free at last and 
ready for a lark. Come, Noah, let’s 
launch the Ark and go for a sail,” and 
the next instant, the Princess saw, bow- 
ing before her, a slim individual clad 
from head to heel in a magenta robe of 
the most severe fashion, and wearing 
upon his head a flat, yellow pancake of 
a hat. 

“ I say, don’t you want to go for a 
sail in my private yacht?” he squeaked. 

“ Oh, yes, thank you so much,” re- 
plied the Princess, nervously, still cling- 
ing to the Fool’s sleeve. Then she 
plucked up courage to ask: “Are you 
Noah or Mrs. Noah? ” 

“ Oh, it makes no difference ’tall, 
ma’am,” he replied, indifferently. “We 
takes turns at it, me an’ her. Come on 

36 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


out, ma,” he called, turning toward the 
counter, and the Princess saw the top of 
the Noah’s Ark fly up on one side and 
Noah’s exact counterpart swing itself 
over the edge and down to the floor with 
such ease and rapidity that the Princess 
could not help wondering how it was 
done. As Mrs. Noah rolled up to them, 
the Princess said : “ I’ve always been 

puzzled to tell you two apart. Do you 
mind telling me how you manage it, in 
the family? ” 

“ Not a bit,” replied Noah, cheerfully. 
“ Each mornin’ we count out, ‘ Eeny, 
meeny, miny, mo,’ and whoever gets 
‘ mo ’ is it for that day. This is my day, 
and so she has to 4 love, honour, and 
obey ’ me ; to-morrow it may be my 
turn.” 

“ But he doesn’t play it fair, ma’am,” 
piped in Mrs. Noah, shrilly; “he most 
al’ays begins countin’ with me, and that 
makes him it more than — ” 

“ Stop quarrelling! Out of the way 

37 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


there! Forward! March!” and they 
were all swept one side by the crowd, as 
a company of wooden soldiers, splendid 
in red and blue paint, marched by. 

“Yes, that’s always the way with the 
military fellers,” grumbled Noah, under 
his breath, but no one paid any attention 
to him, for all eyes were taken with 
the shining ranks of tin soldiers which 
were now passing following their com- 
rades at arms. 

“How splendid they look!” said the 
Princess, softly, in the Fool’s ear, “ you 
wouldn’t think they’d melt, now would 
you? ” 

“ They’re not in the melting mood 
just now,” rejoined the Fool. 

The last file had passed and the crowd 
of toys and dolls fell in line behind 
them and marched out through the open 
door into the roadway, and the Princess, 
following, found the captains of both 
regiments bowing before her and beg- 
ging her to review their troops. 


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military fellers grumbled KJoah 






























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THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ Why, certainly,” assented the de- 
lighted Princess, “ I should like it above 
all things,” and she was conducted with 
much ceremony to a conspicuous seat. 

“ Do you know what I am sitting 
on?” she whispered to the Fool, as he 
slipped to a place at her feet. 

“ No,” replied the Fool. 

“ Well,” said the Princess, quietly, 
“ I mustn’t move suddenly, for it’s a 
candy mouse and it might break.” 

And now there was a great cheering 
and hurrahing as the soldiers marched 
by, their big bearskin caps tilted down 
to their eyes and their big pink palms 
spread out, horizontal to their trouser 
seams, and the Princess was seized with 
a sudden desire to laugh. 

“ Aren’t they funny? ” she giggled in 
the Fool’s ear. 

“ Yes, but don’t tell them so,” cau- 
tioned the Fool. 

“ What shall I say if they ask for a 
speech?” she asked, anxiously. 

39 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


4 4 Ask them if they feel as brave as 
they look,” suggested the Fool. 

“Indeed! I shall do nothing of the 
sort,” declared the Princess, indignantly. 
“ I shall ask them to tea with me. I 
wonder what they eat.” 

“ Better not,” urged the Fool. 44 They 
may ask for turpentine and yellow 
ochre.” 

Just then the ranks formed in a 
square before the reviewing stand, and 
gave the Princess a royal salute, which 
she returned by waving her handker- 
chief enthusiastically. 

44 Now, you must see them in action,” 
announced the captains, swelling with 
pride. 

44 Attention! Shoulder arms! Ready! 
Run!” they shouted, and the soldiers 
tore down the hill and into hiding 
quicker than the Princess could say 
Jack Robinson. 

44 There! didn’t we tell you?” 


40 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


bragged Captain Woodenhead, “ don’t 
they show splendid training?” 

“ They’re the fastest runners in the 
army,” announced Captain Tinheels, 
rubbing his face till it shone. “ There 
isn’t a regiment anywhere that can catch 
’em.” 

“ But,” objected the Princess, anx- 
iously, “ suppose they should be sur- 
rounded on all sides by the enemy? ” 

“ Oh, that would be all right,” they 
beamed at her, “ they have been care- 
fully taught the most elegant manner 
of surrendering,” and they both looked 
so happy and self-satisfied that the Prin- 
cess had no heart to cast any doubts 
upon this method of training. 

“ ’Tain’t the way we’re taught to fight, 
by a long shot,” piped in a thin little 
voice, and the Princess saw standing be- 
fore her a broken-down little Tin Soldier 
who had evidently once been as bright 
and shiny as any in the regiment. Now, 
however, the colour only showed in little 
41 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


spots here and there, one leg was broken 
off entirely, his whole figure was bent 
and crooked, and only the hilt of a 
broken sword remained in his grasp. 
The Princess stared with all her eyes 
while the voice piped on: 

“ We didn’t do any runnin’, we didn’t; 
we just went at ’em good an’ hard an’ 
fit an’ fit. We never showed the white 
feather.” 

Captain Woodenhead and Captain 
Tinheels advanced toward the sorry little 
figure in a threatening manner, but the 
Princess waved them back peremptorily, 
and asked, “ Who are you? ” 

The little man made a desperate effort 
to straighten his back and throw up his 
chest, as he replied: 

“I’m just a tin soldier all battered and bent, 

With my paint worn off and my powder spent, 

But I’m true-blue 
If I’m not brand-new, 

And I do as a soldier ought to do, 

Tho’ I am all battered and bent. 


42 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ Sometimes in the night, when the house is still, 
The blare of the trumpet rings quick and shrill ; 
With sword in hand 
I await command 

To ‘ forward march ! ’ to the enemy’s land, 

In the night when the house is still. 


“ I’m just a tin soldier all battered and bent, 

With my paint worn off and my powder spent, 
But I’m true-blue 
If I’m not brand-new, 

And I do as a soldier ought to do, 

Tho’ I am all battered and bent.” 


“I’m proud of you!” cried the de- 
lighted Princess, “ and you’re just the 
kind of a soldier for me. Come, I’ll 
leave you on guard while we go for this 
sail.” 

The Tin Soldier’s face shone with 
pleasure, and as he gave a military 
salute and marched to his post the two 
regiments of untried troops glared as 
if they would like to throw him in the 
fire. 

“We must be going with the rest,” 
announced the Princess, and she arose 
43 






'M7 v 7 


HA 


' 










THE WISHBONE BOAT 

and put her hand on the arm of the 
Fool. 

All this time the animals had been 
passing two by two into the Ark, and 
now the dolls were flocking down to the 
river bank and getting aboard with 
many shrill little nervous shrieks. 

“ Is it that we have shrunk or they 
have grown? ” asked the Princess of the 
Fool, as they followed. “ You see we’re 
all of a size. Gracious! what a crowd! 
Oh! how can we all get on?” 

“You must sit tight,” they shouted 
at her. “Come, hurry up there; all 
aboard!” and before she knew it, the 
Princess found herself on the Ark, and 
gently pushing off* from shore. 

Then a great hullabaloo was heard, 
and looking back over the fast widening 
distance between the boat and the bank, 
the Princess saw a great crowd of lesser 
toys: Jacks -in -the -Box, hobby-horses, 
rattles, balls, drums, and hoops waving 
and shouting frantically: “ Take me, 

44 



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• ^ 

. . 





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- 









THE WISHBONE BOAT 


too! Oh, take me, too! We want to 
go-o!” they shrieked in chorus. But 
the Ark glided faster and faster down 
the stream and soon the group on the 
shore seemed far away. 

The Princess felt sorry for them and, 
watching as long as vrhe could see, was 
sure that she saw the Little Old Toy 
Shop come down to the bank, open its 
round O of a mouth, swallow them all 
at one gulp and waddle off down the 
road exactly like a big white duck. 

As she turned back to the passengers 
on the Ark again, the Princess noticed 
that they seemed to be sailing past a 
little village which was neatly placed 
upon the river bank. The flat little 
houses, all just alike, with black windows 
and red roofs, looked exactly like the toy 
village she had played with when a 
child; and she noticed that here and there 
in the funny streets stood pyramidal 
green trees with round red bases and 
soldiers on military duty. She was on 
45 




THE WISHBONE BOAT 


the point of asking the Fool what place 
this was, when she heard a great commo- 

f 1 S 

tion at the other end of the deck. 

/ IB 

“ I don’t care! you sha’n’t have it. 


It’s all mine, I tell you,” screamed a 
metallic voice. 


“ Oh, come now, none of that,” the 

^c/| ,-grgr 

dolls were saying, “ you can’t be stingy 


here, old skinflint. Come, you have to 


stand treat.” And the Princess saw 

«4 dEsSsgaa^’ja^ii 

them hustle about a square-built little 


fellow with very thin legs and arms. 

/X.H'.fi ■;: i |j 

“Why, it’s a bank! It’s a tin penny- 


bank made to look like a house, and you 

ypg 

drop the pennies down the chimney,” 
whispered the Princess, pinching the 

plF ji 

Fool to make him look. 

\H£ Jl 

“ Yes, I’m afraid he’ll lose all his 
savings here,” replied the Fool. 

“Come, what will you have to eat?” 
shouted a doll dressed as a clown. 

vujgp r^' 

“ I’ll order new-made honey,” said a 

$&> #JV 

HaC 7* 

tall blonde, languidly. 


46 

r n 3 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ I’ll have ice-cream from the Milky 
Way,” said another. 

“I’ll take pickled blocks and hot rolls 
from the breadfruit-tree,” shouted a 
little peasant doll in wooden shoes. 

“ Come! come! shake out your cash! 
shake out your cash!” and they all 
crowded about the Tin-Bank. They 
seized him by his shins, had him over in 
a twinkling, and as they shook and 
thumped him the pennies flew out in 
every direction. 

“Thieves! Robbers! Police!” shouted 
the Tin-Bank, beside himself with rage, 
but the dolls only laughed the more 
heartily and gathered up the falling 
pennies, and soon they were all order- 
ing refreshments of the little peasant 
dolls, who ran about with trays serving 
their customers as quickly as they could. 

“ Perhaps you would better sit down 
while I try to get something for you 
to eat,” suggested the Fool; and the 
Princess seating herself on a stool, be- 
47 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


side a very slabsided Cow, who stood 
contentedly chewing her cud, asked : 

“ Where are we going? ” 

The Cow shifted her cud to the other 
side and reflected deeply before she re- 
plied in a hollow voice, “We are going 
to the Land of Mucilage and Glue.” 

“What for, for pity’s sake!” ex- 
claimed the Princess. 

“ The dolls want their clothes glued 
on for the party to-night,” replied the 
Cow. 

“ Glued on! their clothes glued on, 
did you say? ” asked the Princess, in- 
credulously. 

“ Certainly,” replied the Cow, gazing 
at her, placidly, “ glued on! You 
wouldn’t have it different, would you? 
What’s wrong with it, anyway ? ” 

“Well,” suggested the Princess, dif- 
fidently, “ I should think it might seem 
rather sticky, you know.” 

“Sticky!” bellowed the Cow, com- 
pletely out of patience. “ Of course it’s 

48 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


sticky. Didn’t I tell you, they wanted 
their clothes stuck on for the party to- 
night? ” and she switched her stump 
of a tail angrily. 

“Oh!” said the Princess, meekly, 
and was silent for a time. After a 
little, she began again in her most polite 
manner. “ May I ask who is giving the 
party? ” she said. 

“ Ha, ha, ha! ” laughed the Cow, and 
nudged the Pink Lion, who stood next 
her. “ She doesn’t know who is giving 
the party. She wasn’t asked. Te-he! 
te-he!” and all the dolls pointed at the 
Princess and laughed and kept repeat- 
ing: “ She wasn’t asked! she wasn’t 
asked ! ” until she wanted to cry, and hid 
behind the Fool’s back. 

“Shame! shame!” cried the Fool, 
stamping his foot at them, “ to treat a 
lady and a Princess so.” 

“A Princess, indeed! Ha, ha!” they 
jeered. “A Princess, — and not invited 


49 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


to Oberon’s Ball in the Dryads’ Forest. 
Come! Come! that’s too good!” 

At this, the Fool lost his temper com- 
pletely, and fumed and raged at them 
with such fury that the dolls began to 
shout: “A mutineer! A mutineer! 
Come, let’s give them both a trial,” and 
the Fool and the Princess were dragged 
to the middle of the deck, bound with 
a cat’s-cradle string and seated upon a 
double rocking-horse. 

“ I will be the Judge,” announced the 
Hippopotamus, glaring about him, as 
though afraid of being contradicted. * 

“The idea!” snapped the Pink Lion. 
“ Why, you haven’t a bit of hair. What 
will you do for a wig, I would like to 
know? ” 

“ Why, borrow one, of course,” roared 
the Hippopotamus, snatching the curled 
blonde wig from the head of a Bisque 
Doll, and disclosing a hole in the top 
of her empty head. 

“ Get a cap, dear, I’m afraid you’ll 

50 






* 














* 




* 










r 




♦ 





















THE WISHBONE BOAT 


r 

catch your death a -cold,” murmured the 
Lady Doll in the ear of the Bisque Doll, 
but she only smiled as if she were quite 
used to going wigless, and replied: 

“ You may feel the need of caps at 
your age, my love, but I am too young 
to put them on.” 

The clothes of the Hippopotamus 
were so much too big for him, and the 
doll’s wig was so much too little, and he 
looked so very ridiculous as he took his 
place upon the Judge’s bench, that the 
Princess could not keep from giggling 
a little and had to hide her face in her 
pocket-handkerchief, and pretend to be 
weeping. 

“ I will be the bailiff,” said the Pink 
Lion, and the next minute the Princess 
heard him pounding on a toy drum, and 
shouting : 

“Oyes! Oyes! This Honourable 
Court is now in session,” at the top of 
his voice, and she knew that the trial 
had begun. 

51 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ It will be the business of this court,” 
announced the Hippopotamus, in a pom- 
pous manner, “ to discover whether the 
prisoners are going anywhere, where 
they are going, whether they know they 
are going there or not, and what they 
do know. We will begin at the begin- 
ning and take each step very carefully. 
If you are travelling, you must know 
your way about; have you ever studied 
Geography? ” 

“ Yes, your Honour,” replied the 
prisoners in a breath. 

“ Speak one at a time, please,” said 
the Hippopotamus, sharply. Then, turn- 
ing to the Princess, he demanded: “If 
the capital of the Bank of England is 
fifteen million pounds, what is the capital 
of France? ” 

“ Paris, please your Honour,” replied 
the Princess. 

“Wrong,” said the Hippopotamus, 
“ it’s a capital ‘ F,’ ” and turning to the 


52 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


clerk, he commanded: “Mark her zero 
in Geography.” 

The Monkey was the town clerk, and 
as he wrote down the standing of the 
Princess in his note-book, he gave her 
a solemn wink, and threw ink at a 
J umping- J ack, who was hanging around. 

There was a great shouting and jeer- 
ing among the dolls, and the Pink Lion 
had to pound vigorously upon the drum 
to command silence. 

“You certainly don’t know enough 
Geography to be about alone,” said the 
Hippopotamus, with decision, “ I would 
advise you, by all means, to put your 
common sense in a savings-bank, and see 
if you cannot lay by enough for an 
emergency. Here is your bank-book,” 
and he handed the Princess a square box 
with two slits cut in its top; one marked 
“ common sense,” and the other “ un- 
common sense.” 

“ What do I put in the ‘ uncommon ’ 
side? ” asked the Princess, much amused. 
53 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ Oh, whenever you remember not to 
eat the things that disagree with you, 
that’s 4 uncommon sense,’ ” said the 
Hippopotamus. 44 Do you know how 
to keep accounts?” 

44 I’m afraid not,” replied the Princess, 
doubtfully. 

44 What do you put with ore to make 
more of it? ” demanded the Hippopota- 
mus. 

The Princess thought for a long time 
before she gave it up. 44 1 don’t know,” 
she finally admitted. 

44 Why an 4 m ’ of course,” said the 
Hippopotamus. 44 Now, if you take six 
times as many apples as I do, what do 
you get? ” 

44 Why, I don’t know, you didn’t say 
how many — ” stammered the Princess. 

44 Well, no matter,” interrupted the 
Hippopotamus, 44 you’d get a stomach- 
ache; I’m very fond of apples.” 

44 But that’s not arithmetic,” broke in 


54 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 

the Princess in vexation, “ it's physi- 
ology.” 

“Hush!” said the Hippopotamus, 
severely, “ you mustn’t answer any ques- 
tions that are not in the book, or you’ll 
upset our educational system. 

“ Tell me this: if it takes a long train 
to go half an hour, and the clock is slow, 
how much is it? Now while you are 
working that out I’ll examine the Fool,” 
and turning to the Fool, he inquired: 

“ Have you had any educational ad- 
vantages? ” 

Then the Fool arose, and replied: 

“ There was a Fool, who went to school 
To learn to masticate by rule. 

He studied Chinese once or twice, 

He learned to eat birds’ nests and mice, 

And snails and sugar, served with rice, 

And then he stopped, — ‘ For I suspect,* 

He said, ‘ the birds and mice object. 

’Tis therefore they should go to school 
And learn to be devoured by rule.’ 


“ There was a Fool, who went to school 
To learn t© doctor folk by rule. 


55 




yv Y 




C- 






THE WISHBONE BOAT 


He learned to cut and slash and sew, 

To pull hair out or make it grow, 

Make bills come high and patients low, 

And then he stopped, — ‘ For I suspect,* 

He said, ‘ the public may object. 

’Tis therefore they should go to school 
And learn self-sacrifice by rule.’ ” 

“ Um! — yes,” said the Hippopota- 
mus, meditatively, as the Fool sat down 
again, “ we wouldn’t like to say any- 
thing in criticism of the methods of 
other schools, but we couldn’t graduate 
you on that, you know.” 

“ Why not? ” demanded the Fool. 

“ Well, I can’t find all that in the 
book, at all,” replied the Hippopotamus, 
nervously turning over the pages of a 
large red book. “ It may be very true, 
but we have to stand by the system, you 
see.” 

“ Pray don’t take any trouble for me,” 
said the Fool, politely. 

The Hippopotamus turned back to the 
Princess with a look of relief. 

“ Can you recite? ” he inquired, and 

56 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


as the Princess nodded, he continued, 
“ Then recite ‘ Little Drops of Water, 
Little Grains of Sand/ 99 and the Prin- 
cess began : 

“ Little drops of water, little grains of sand, 

A Chinese pagoda and a military band, 

Rooms the size of boxes, folk of every sort, 

Make an empty pocket and a crowded health resort.” 

“Dear me!” she said to herself, 
“ That isn’t quite right, I’m afraid,” 
but the Hippopotamus smiled encour- 
agingly, and said: 

“Good! veiy good, indeed! Now re- 
cite another.” 

“ I’m afraid I don’t know any more,” 
said the Princess, doubtfully. 

“ Nonsense! then you must let me in- 
troduce you. 

“ Here : ‘ Twinkle, Twinkle, Little 

Star,’ let me make you acquainted with 
the Princess. There! now you know it, 
go on.” 

“ What an easy way of learning 

57 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


things!” thought the Princess, and be- 
gan, obediently : 

“ Twinkle, twinkle, little star, 

Zipping like a cable-car 
Through the trackless space afar ; 

Do they clang your bell and squeeze, 
Shouting, ‘ Step up forward, please ? ’ 

Do star-ladies who alight 
Learn to face ahead all right ? 

You take such an awful pace, 

As you whiz along thro’ space, 

That I’m glad you’re not my car, 
Twinkle-inkling little star.” 

“Perfect! Letter perfect!” ex- 
claimed the Hippopotamus, and all the 
dolls clapped their hands. 

“Silence!” roared the Pink Lion, 
and beat a rapid tattoo. 

“ Now we will give your friend an- 
other chance,” remarked the Hippopota- 
mus, smiling benignly, and turning to 
the Fool, he asked: “What is a joke?” 

“ This trial, ,r replied the Fool, briefly. 

There was an ominous silence for a 
moment, and then the crowd burst into 

58 






. 


















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. 

















i- - f 

























































































































- 





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* * 





















THE WISHBONE BOAT 

an uproar of shouts and angry yells. 
“ Put him overboard !” “String him 
up! ” “ A mutiny! ” “ Tickle them both 
to death ! ” 

- As they crowded around the prisoners’ 
dock the Fool sprang in front of the 
Princess, and striking out to right and 
left, overturned half a regiment of toy 
soldiers before he was seized and bound. 
The dolls screamed at the top of their 
voices; the Pink Lion beat fiercely upon 
his drum, and the Hippopotamus roared 
himself hoarse before quiet was restored, 
and the sentence pronounced. 

“You have shown yourselves to be 
full of wicked and mutinous intent,” 
said the Hippopotamus, “ and dangerous 
to the safety of our voyage; I, there- 
fore, sentence you to be fired from the 
cannon’s mouth, the Princess to the East, 
and the Fool to the West.” 

“ Don’t be frightened, I don’t think 
it will hurt much,” whispered the Fool 
in the Princess’s ear. 

59 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 

Then there was a great bustle as the 
wooden cannon with which the Ark was 
armed were dragged forward, the Prin- 
cess and the Fool were lashed to sharp 
pointed sticks (“exactly like sky- 
rockets,” thought the Princess), and 
rammed into the cannon, which the dolls 
had loaded with three teaspoonfuls of 
powdered sugar apiece, and fired off 
with a tremendous bang. 


1 













THE WISHBONE BOAT 


Chapter III. 



“Dear me!” thought the Princess, 
as the din of the explosion rang in her 
ears, “What a headache I shall have!” 
and the next thing she knew, she was 
tasting a strong flavour of wintergreen 
and wondering what smelled so much 
like chocolate cake. 

When she had time to sit up and mb 
her eyes and look about her, she found 
herself sitting in a bed of wintergreen 
in the midst of a most orderly kitchen - 
garden. Shining white shell paths led 
in all directions, and through the trees 
she could see the flash of a playing foun- 
61 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


s ' i 


tain. “Mercy! I’m crushing this bed 
of sweet herbs,” she exclaimed, scram- 
bling to her feet just in time to hear 
some one say, crossly: “Well! a wild 
thyme you’ve had of it; maybe you’ll 
be more sage next time, Miss Sweet 
Marjoram,” and looking up, she saw 
standing before her a very strange-look- 
ing individual dressed as a cook. His 
head was made of a chocolate cake with 
the eyes and nose and mouth put on in 
little curls and dashes of white frosting, 
and on top, in place of a hat, he wore a 
little white frosting cage holding a sugar 
bride and groom. “ Just exactly like 
those the confectioner puts on wedding- 
cakes,” thought the Princess. His body 
was an immense mince pie with little 
slashes cut in the crust for vest button- 
holes. The hot mince-meat showed 
through the slashes, and out of the upper 
one hung a great raisin for a buttonhole 
bouquet. The Princess longed to put in 
her finger and thumb and snatch it when 

62 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


he wasn’t looking. His arms and legs 
were made of piles of steaming-hot 
griddle-cakes, while his hands were 
doughnuts, through one of which was 
thrust a long striped candy cane upon 
which he leaned as he talked. 

“ He looks good enough to eat,” 
thought the Princess, and she stared at 
him so long that he clicked his tongue 
in his cheek, and asked, sharply: “Has 
the cat got your tongue, Miss Marjo- 
ram? ” 

“If you please,” said the Princess, 
with dignity, “ I am not Miss Marjoram 
at all, but a Princess.” 

The Cook stared at her for a minute, 
and then chuckled good-na;turedly. 

“ Well, is that so! ” he replied. “ You 
don’t look it.” 

The Princess looked at his white frost- 
ing features and ridiculous figure, and 
was just on the point of saying that 
she thought she looked quite as well as 
he did, when he turned quickly on his 
63 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


heel and walked down the garden path 
remarking: “Want to see my garden? 
It’s the only real kitchen-garden in the 
world.” 

The curiosity of the Princess got the 
better of her temper and she followed 
meekly in his footsteps. 

“ This,” he said, pointing with his 
twirling cane, “ is a sugar-plum-tree, and 
this on the other side is my soap-bubble- 
tree,” and the Princess found herself 
staring at a strange-looking tree whose 
branches were white clay bubble-pipes 
blossoming into clusters of shining bub- 
bles. “You see, this is where we get the 
soap-suds for washing,” continued her 
guide. “ Now, this is my clothes-line. I 
shall have to tighten it up a bit,” and 
he gave a smart pull to it, and tightened 
up its sagging length. Then, with a 
great pair of shears, he cut the extra 
piece into little squares and dropped 
them into lace-paper boxes. 

“ Would vou like a piece o’ clothes- 

64 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


I line? ” he asked, graciously extending 
toward the Princess a large piece caught 
in the shears. 

“ Oh! thank you so much,” exclaimed 
the Princess, discovering at that minute 
that she was very hungry. “ Why, it's 
taffy! ” 

“ Certainly! what should it be, I 
would like to know? ” 

The Princess thought of her conversa- 
tion with the Cow, and refrained from 
any remarks about “ stickiness.” “ All 
the same,” she said to herself, “ I 
shouldn’t like my things hung on it, I’m 
sure.” 

But the Cook was still talking, and 
waving his doughnut hand toward a 
funny little pond covered with foam, 
“ This,” he said, with pride, “ is my 
Lake of Brandy Sauce.” 

“ Oh, does it come by the lake? ” 
asked the Princess. 

“ How should it come? ” demanded 
the Cook. 

65 





T 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ Well,” replied the Princess, in some 
confusion, “at home, you know, ours 
always comes in a sauce-boat.” 

“Exactly!” exclaimed the Cook in 
triumph, “ Look there,” and he pointed 
to a pier jutting into the lake, where 
several boats were tied. 

The Princess saw that the pier was 
built of piles of lady’s-fingers, and that 
the boats were really china sauce-boats 
bobbing about in the brandy sauce. 

“Well, I declare!” she said in aston- 
ishment, “ is this where they get it? I 
suppose every now and then a wave 
splashes in and fills them ready to use, 
but I should think it would make the 
outside of the sauce-boat dreadfully — ” 
she was just about to say “ sticky,” when 
she caught herself. “ Mercy me ! ” she 
thought, “ I must look out for that 
word ; ” and she added, aloud, “ The 
Doctor doesn’t allow me to have it; 
you see it goes to my head.” 

“ Quite right! ” remarked the Cook, 



66 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ you don’t like to go to the foot your- 
self, you know. Next scholar spell ‘ ap- 
pendicitis,’ ” and the Princess was 
startled to hear how much his voice 
sounded like that of her last school- 
master. 

“ Please, sir, we haven’t had that yet,” 
she said, timidly. 

“ You’re lucky,” replied the Cook. 
“ What do you think of my candied 
cherry-tree? ” and he plumped a candied 
cherry into the Princess’s mouth. 

The Princess found her teeth stuck 
so fast in the taffy as to prevent her 
from saying “ Thank you,” properly, 
but the Cook didn’t seem to notice and 
walked steadily down the path which led 
toward the fountain. Stopping at last 
before it, he struck an attitude, and ex- 
claimed: “Now what could be more 
beautiful than this soda-water foun- 
tain?” 

The Princess opened her eyes very 
wide and gazed in amazement at the 
67 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


fountain. She saw that it was built of 
white marble and trimmed all about with 
nickel-plating, with here and there a 
faucet marked “ Maple,” “ Chocolate,” 
“ Raspberry,” “ Tutti-frutti,” and so 
forth; while from above fell a foam- 
ing, fizzing spray of soda-water. 

“ Help yourself, my dear, help your- 
self,” urged the Cook, hospitably, and, 
as the Princess drew a glass of chocolate 
and sipped it, he threw out his chest, and 
asked : 

“ Do you know how to make taffy? ” 

“ I’m afraid I’ve forgotten,” said the 
Princess, “ I would be so happy to have 
your recipe.” 

The Cook bowed profoundly, and 
went on speaking in a very sweet voice: 

TO MAKE TAFFY 

“ Tate a cup of molasses, thick and dark and slow to 
run, — 

A good-sized bump of self-esteem with which to have 
some fun, — 


68 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


A piece of butter like an egg, — an* oily tongue and 
wily, 

A spoon of vinegar, — a gibe that must be slipped in 

slyly; 

Then boil, but do not stir, until ’tis hard when dropped 
in water, 

And play your fish a little while when you have 
finally caught her ; 

Then pull it into ribbands, but do not let it stick, 

For when your victim finds you out you’ll have to 
vanish quick.” 

The Cook closed his right eye, and 
looked at the Princess in so strange a 
manner that she found herself apologiz- 
ing. 

“ I suppose I’m very stupid,” she was 
saying, “ but it seems rather mixed.” 

“ So it is,” assented the Cook, “ you’ll 
have to separate it carefully or it will 
run together. Crack the shell on the 
edge of the next conceit you meet.” 

“ I will,” promised the Princess, with- 
out in the least knowing what he meant. 
“ Can’t you give me some more re- 
cipes? ” 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ Oh, yes, indeed! ” assented the Cook, 
“one for girls and one for boys. ,, 

“Do you mean in gingerbread? ” 
asked the Princess. 

“Oh, no!” replied the Cook, “in all 
ages.” 

TO MAKE GIRLS 

“ Take a dozen gingham pinafores and chop them up 
quite small, 

Add a taste of playing ‘ lady-in-long-dresses-come-to- 
call/ 

Then a dash of pouts and ‘ make-ups,' two dimples and 
a smile, 

And you set to rise and sweeten, watching carefully 
the while. 

Then you knead in dolls and tea-sets and some patch- 
work, sewing neat, 

And the ripple of gay laughter, and the trip of danc- 
ing feet; 

Sprinkle in a drop of mischief and a whisk of flying 
curls, 

Baste them often, serve with honey, and you have a 
batch o’ girls.” 

“ Oh, what fun! ” exclaimed the Prin- 
cess, “ but I really think I like boys 
better; what’s the recipe for boys?” 


TO 





r } 

THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ It’s quite simple,” replied the Cook, 

vm 

“ you see — 

[ Y/l 

TO MAKE BOYS 

hi \ 

“ Take a dozen parts of energy, an appetite so big 

'~Y <'w\-rC^V 

f l \ 

That it would fit Goliath or a very hungry pig ; 

- -A 

Put by awhile to pickle in a brine that’s made of 


schools, 

|p Loj 

And that’s seasoned well with birch-rods, castor-oil 


and April fools ; 



Strain them thro’ a sieve of jack-knives, tops and 
kites and bats and balls, 

Add a lot of banging doors shut and of whistling in 
the halls ; 

Heaping measure of good-nature and an awful lot of 
noise, 

Mix and stir and pound and beat it and you have a 
mess o’ boys.” 

“ Bless me! ” exclaimed the astonished 
Princess. 

“ Yes,” replied the Cook, “ that’s the 
right way. Isn’t it a wonderful thing 
to be a poet? ” 

“ Are you a poet? ” asked the Prin- 
cess in surprise, and couldn’t understand 
why he suddenly turned his back on her 
with such coldness. 

71 

3T 



~ 


.r' 




I 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ I wish the dollies all could walk and talk, 
That the red toy cars could run ; 

I wish toy teapots ever held real tea, 

I think ’twould be such fun ; 

I wish that teacakes blossomed overnight 
With frosting on, you see ; 

And oh ! I wish — I wish the most of all 
There was an ice-cream-tree.” 


Thinking to mollify him, she remarked, 
timidly: “I made some poetry myself 
once, when I was a very little girl. 
Would you like to hear it? ” 

“Huh!” grunted the Cook, still with 
his back turned, and the Princess was 
half -frightened at her own boldness as 
she began to recite: 


“Humph!” exclaimed the Cook, 
scornfully, setting down his cane with a 
bang, “that’s nothing! I thought of 
that long ago.” 

“ Thought of what? ” asked the Prin- 
cess, wishing very much she had kept 
still. 

“ Oh, that ice-cream-tree,” snapped 

72 










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' 

• ■ . ' • ■ • x ' 













* 















* 













# 

' ' " ’ •' • . 












THE WISHBONE BOAT 


the Cook. “ That’s not new. I’ve got 
one, myself.” 

“Really!” exclaimed the Princess, in 
delight. “ A really-truly ice-cream-tree? 
Oh! may I see it?” she begged. 

“Certainly!” said the Cook, “look 
behind you.” 

The Princess turned around and saw 
before her a tree which looked very 
much like a great Christmas fir, covered 
with snow. Hanging from every limb 
were quart bricks of ice-cream tied up 
neatly with red ribbon, like Christmas 
packages, and from the tips of the 
branches blossomed ices in every form 
and colour, — roses and lilies and tulips, 
and even little flying birds and cherubs, 
jjf Shining luminous icicles hung over it 
like lighted candles, showing every colour 
under the sun, and made it fairly dazzle 
the eyes of the delighted Princess. 

“Oh!” she exclaimed, “How beauti- 
ful! how beautiful it is! You know that 
is what I am searching for — Beauty!” 
73 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 

“ What!” roared the Cook, in a fury, 
“ You come here in search of Beauty? 
Don’t you know this is the Land of 
Dyspepsia and the Garden of the In- 
digestibles, and I am the Cook of the 
Frying-Pan? And you dare come here 
in search of Beauty? Begone!” and he 
roared so terribly, and lifted his cane in 
so threatening a manner, that the fright- 
ened Princess fled down the white shell 
path just as fast as her feet could carry 
her. 

On and on she ran, until she became 
so weary that she could run no further, 
and dropping on the ground beneath a 
bush which grew on the very edge of 
the garden, she shut her eyes and tried 
to catch her breath. 

“ What a dreadful person he was!” 
she thought to herself. “I’m sure I 
shall never go there again,” but just 
then something tickled her nose and, 
looking up, she saw that the bush under 
which she was lying was in full blos- 

74 * 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 

som. She picked a blossom from the 
branch that swayed so near her face, and 
found, to her surprise, that it was no 
less than a paper snapdragon case. 
“Dear me!” thought the Princess, “I 
haven’t seen one since I went to my last 
children’s party. Let me see — you pull 
the strings at the ends,” and she gave a 
quick little jerk. 


73 , 





THE WISHBONE BOAT 



Bang! there was a report like a pistol- 
shot, and the Princess had just time to 
see an immense pair of pink tissue-paper 
wings shake themselves out of the snap- 
dragon case and fasten themselves to 
her arms, when she found herself flying 
easily through the air. 



“Oh! isn’t this delightful! I’ve al- 


ways wanted to fly,” she exclaimed, “ I 


think I’ll fly across this river,” but when 
she tried to change her course she found 
that she was not really flying at all, but 
that the wings were flying away with 
her. “ No, no, I don’t wish to go that 
way at all,” she cried out, angrily, and 


76 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


struggled so hard to turn about that she 
got all tangled up in her wings. She 
heard a snap and the rip of tearing 
paper, and then she felt herself falling 
rapidly down, — down, and heard a 
voice shouting: “ Slack away your jib 
there! Luff her up! Luff her up!” 

“How perfectly ridiculous!” thought 
the Princess, “ just as though I were 
a boat! Oh, if the Fool were only 
here! What shall I do! What shall I 
do ! ” and with a little cry of despair she 
let go her hold upon her torn and use- 
less paper wings, and closed her eyes, 
expecting to fall and be dashed to pieces 
the next moment. Instead, to her great 
surprise, she found herself seated with 
a gentle little bump in a place which 
seemed strangely familiar, and opening 
her eyes, she found herself once more 
aboard the Wishbone Boat with her old 
friends, the Imp and the Fool. 

“ Why! ” she exclaimed, staring with 
all her might, “ where have you been 
77 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


all this time? I’ve needed you dread- 
fully.” 

“ I’ve been way off to Nowhere, wait- 
ing for you to remember me and bring 
me back to Somewhere. I couldn’t come 
till you wished for me, you know, so 
you see you haven’t thought of me once 
since those detestable Dolls fired us out 
of the wooden cannon. Whew! I can 
taste that sugar yet.” 

“ Yes,” replied the Princess, curling 
up one foot under her in comfortable 
fashion. “ It was very sugary, wasn’t 
it? Where is Nowhere, and what is it 
like? ” 

“ Oh,” replied the Fool, “ it is the 
queerest country you ever saw, where 
potatoes grow on trees and they dig 
apples out of the ground; and they 
burn diamonds for a fire, and make the 
ladies’ necklaces of coal — ” 

“Mercy!” exclaimed the Princess, 
“ how do they keep clean? ” 

“ They don’t,” replied the Fool, 

78 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ they get just as black as they can be, 
but in that country it is considered better 
to be black than white, so most of the 
people take to being bootblacks and 
miners and engineers, because then they 
are sure to stay black, you see.” 

“ What fun the children must have 
there,” said the Princess, laughing, “ I 
suppose they never have to have their 
faces washed.” 

“Oh, the children!” exclaimed the 
Fool, “ why, the country belongs to the 
children, you see, and every one has to 
do exactly as they say. All the fathers 
and mothers have to obey their little 
boys and girls, and they have very hard 
times. I saw one father sent to bed at 
six o’clock because he ate too much and 
was cross at the table, and a mother I 
knew wasn’t allowed to go to parties 
oftener than once a week. It was dread- 
fully hard on them. I shouldn’t have 
minded it, though, if the baby next door 
hadn’t taken it into his head that he 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


must look after me. He decided that 
I must live on boiled milk and gruel, and 
so I left the country. Oh, I’ve been 
waiting for you for ever so long. 
Where did you go? ” 

“Oh!” laughed the Princess, “I fell 
right into the most charming garden you 
ever saw, where candied cherries grew 
on trees, and they had taffy clothes- 
lines and ice-cream soda fountains, and 
the Cook himself — for you must know 
this was a kitchen-garden — was all 
mince pie and doughnuts and chocolate 
cake.” 

“ Um — um!” cried the Fool, smack- 
ing his lips, “ you make me so hungry.” 

“ Well, it wouldn’t have done you a 
bit of good if you’d been there; you 
couldn’t have eaten him , you know,” ob- 
jected the Princess. “ I’m sure it 
wouldn’t be considered polite to eat up 
your host; and besides, do you know, 
although there were so many goodies in 
that garden, the Cook said there wasn’t 

80 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


anything there for me; because all the 
things I like to eat are bad for me, and 
all the things that are good for me are 
so bad to eat. Now what do you think 
of that? ” 

“ I think it’s nonsense,” replied the 
Fool, promptly, but the Princess felt the 
Wishbone tremble, and saw that the Imp 
was giggling again. 

“Well, what is it now?” she asked, 
a little impatiently. 

“ Mercy now ! a body’d think, 

Since you’ve met doll-folk and such, 

You could settle in a wink 

That stuffing don’t amount to much " — 

replied the Imp over his shoulder, as he 
rounded the corner of a white cloud and 
slackened speed a little. 

“ That’s true,” laughed the Princess, 
good-naturedly. “ Those dolls managed 
to be beautiful on sawdust. Well, I’d 
be willing to eat sawdust myself if I 
could just be beautiful. How funny 
81 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


that would be, — sawdust mush for 
breakfast, sawdust chops for luncheon, 
sawdust soup for dinner,” and the Prin- 
cess broke into a gay little laugh. 

“ Ha, ha! ” echoed the Imp. 

“ Ha, ha ! ha, ha ! laugh and grow fat, 

That is now your duty ; 

Find a better way than that 
To make yourself a beauty.” 

“Goodness, no!” exclaimed the Prin- 
cess, fervently, “ I should never be beau- 
tiful if I got fat.” 

“ Well,” observed the Fool, “ that is 
altogether a matter of taste, you know. 
There are people who consider the scales 
a test of beauty, and who would weigh 
you to decide whether or no you are beau- 
tiful.” 

“ Who are they? ” demanded the Prin- 
cess. “ I should like to see them.” 

“ So you shall,” declared the Fool. 
“To the Quackery,” he commanded the 
Imp, and in an instant the Wishbone 

82 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


Boat had swooped down to a curbstone, 
and the Princess found herself entering 
a very fashionable-looking shop. One 
show-window was full of jars of cream 
and bottles of face-wash, the other con- 
tained all sorts of wigs and puffs and 
curls, and right over the middle door 
hung an immense set of false teeth. 
The Princess stopped with her foot on 
the bottom step, trying to decide at which 
door to knock first, when the steps began 
to move along with her, and before she 
had time to object she found herself 
beside the counter in the complexion 
place. 

“ What can I do for you? ” asked a 
deep voice, and the Princess saw leaning 
upon the other side of the counter a very* 
fat Hippopotamus dressed in the height 
of fashion. 

“I — I beg your pardon,” stammered 
the Princess, quite taken aback, “ are you 


I am Madam Hippo, specialist for 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


the complexion and figure,” announced 
the saleswoman, calmly. “ What can I 
do for you? ” 

“ Ah, yes,” murmured the Princess, 
her eyes on the great, wabbly shape be- 
fore her, “ I think I had the pleasure 
of meeting a relative of yours lately 
while I was out sailing.” 

“ My husband, no doubt,” observed 
Madam Hippo, blandly. “ He is trav- 
elling to improve his mind. If he could 
just get his mind improved, he would 
undoubtedly become very famous. Did 
you wish anything, miss?” 

“Well — I — that is — ” said the 
Princess, trying hard not to laugh, “ I 
came here in search of Beauty, but I 
see I have made some mistake — ” 

“ You came to exactly the right place,” 
interrupted Madam Hippo, briskly. 
“Now just trust yourself to me, and 
I promise you that I will soon make 
you almost as beautiful as I am myself.” 

“Oh!” gasped the Princess, hardly 

84 

















































THE WISHBONE BOAT 


knowing whether to laugh or to get 
angry. “ What would you do to me? 
What — er — changes would you ad- 
vise? ” 

“ First we must fatten you up, my 
dear,” replied Madam Hippo, with an 
expansive smile. “You are nothing but 
a bag of bones now, but I guarantee that 
ten bottles of my Fattening Fluid will 
make you put on about two hundred 
pounds. Then your complexion! Of 
course you know it’s dreadful, all that 
pink and white colour that is so very 
commonplace. But never mind, I have a 
nice complexion wash that will change 
all that and make you a nice dark brown, 
or here is a gray if you prefer it; both 
are quite fashionable. Then I can put 
a little pad on your nose which will flat- 
ten it down nicely in a few months, and 
we can easily stretch your mouth to make 
it something like a decent size, about 
three times as wide as it is now, I should 
say.” 

85 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 

“What!” cried the Princess, aghast, 
“ you would make me fat, flat-nosed, and 
a dark brown colour, and you call that 
making me beautiful? ” 

“Mercy, miss! any one who knows 
anything about such things can tell you 
that I am right,” replied Madam Hippo, 
indignantly, but the Princess was already 
leaving the shop. However the steps did 
not permit her to gain the pavement, but 
rolled her quickly into the shop on the 
other side, where a Porcupine, bristling 
all over with quills, asked very politely 
what she could do for her. 

“ Nothing, I think,” replied the Prin- 
cess. “ I came in here by mistake. You 
see, I am searching for Beauty.” 

“ Ah,” smiled the Porcupine, blandly, 
“ then this is just the place for you. The 
thing you really need, miss, to make you 
look quite beautiful, is hair like mine. 
You see your hair is soft and lies down 
close to your head. I’m afraid we could 
do nothing with it, miss; but, if you 

86 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


will allow me, I will cut it off very short 
and make you a beautiful quill wig to 
wear over it, one with quills a foot long. 
You have no idea how handsome it would 
make you look.” 

“ But I should be so very uncomfort- 
able,” objected the poor Princess, “ and 
I should always be sticking myself on 
the quills.” 

“Pooh!” said the Porcupine, scorn- 
fully, “ who cares for comfort? You 
surely don’t expect to be beautiful and 
comfortable at the same time? Come, I 
will let you try on a wig which is just 
your size,” and she turned her back to 
get it. 

“Now!” said the Princess to herself, 
“now is my chance to get away from 
her,” and she was out of the door and 
on the steps in a flash. 

“ Oh, this is a dreadful pi — ” she be- 
gan, but the great set of false teeth hang- 
ing over the middle door suddenly de- 
scended upon her and scooped her right 
87 


ns 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 

through the doorway and into a red 
plush dental chair. 

“ It felt exactly,” she afterward told 
the Fool, “ like being swallowed by a 
giant who had lost his lower teeth.” 

The Princess looked up into the kindly 
face of an Elephant, who was leaning 
over her and examining all her teeth 
with great care. 

“ Would you please open your mouth 
wider,” he was saying politely. 

“ I don’t believe I need anything 
done,” replied the Princess, nervously (he 
was such a very big Elephant). 

“ Of course you don’t,” replied the 
Elephant, gravely, “ but you wouldn’t 
wait till you needed things before you 
got them, would you? Why, you’d get 
next to nothing that way. No, no, I 
leave people’s needs to those miserable 
workmen who have no soul for art. It 
is not usefulness I am striving for, — it 
is Beauty.” Here the Elephant stuck one 
fore paw in his shirt-bosom and with the 

88 



**■ ^ ■■ • =*< 

THE WISHBONE BOAT 

other pulled out a great red handkerchief 
from his coat-tail pocket. “ I am an 


artist,” he said, with tears in his voice, 

% 4 V 

“ and I am willing to starve in the cause 


of Beauty,” and he wiped his eyes with 


a flourish. 

%jrn 

The Princess noticed that he did not 

look starved in the least, and also that 


his handkerchief was really a red table- 


cloth, and she did not know whether to 


be more surprised at this or at the idea 


that he was an artist. 


“ Why, that is what I am searching 


for — Beauty,” she told him, timidly. 


“Ah!” beamed the Elephant, “then 

Plli 

place yourself in my hands. I will re- 

hP 

move all your teeth ” (here the Prin- 


cess shuddered in spite of herself). 

Rr 

“ You must promise not to put your 

||| (^n 

tongue in the places where they were, — 
no, not even once, and you will soon 

5 i 

have ” (here the voice of the Elephant 


sank to a whisper) — “ you will soon have 

Jiil 

a set of gold teeth. Beautiful shining 

89 

r n 



Jr 




1 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 

gold! Then I will set a little diamond 
in the centre of each tooth. Ah! I see 
you get the idea, — very original, eh? 
Just think what a dazzling smile it will 
give you.” 

“ Well, I will think about it,” said 
the Princess, trying to excuse herself 
politely, “ but I really must be going 
now. My friends are waiting for me 
outside; good-bye.” 

“ Good-bye,” said the Elephant, as he 
opened the door for her. “ They would 
improve you very much,” and the last 
the Princess saw of him, as she took her 
place again in the Wishbone Boat, was 
the corner of his red table-cloth handker- 
chief hanging from his coat-tail pocket. 

“ Well,” said the Fool, when the Wish- 
bone Boat was once more under sail, 
“ did you find out how to be beauti- 
ful? ” 

“ I don’t know,” laughed the Princess. 
“ How would you like me to weigh two 
hundred pounds, have a nice dark brown 

90 








> 








































1 

* 



















iff 


























. 


















































































THE WISHBONE BOAT 


colour, hair that stuck straight out like 
a porcupine’s quills, a flat nose, a wide 
mouth, and gold teeth set with dia- 
monds? ” 

“ No, thank you,” replied the Fool, 
“ I don’t seem to care much for the pros- 
pectus. Was that their method?” 

“ Yes,” replied the Princess, “ every 
one seems to have a different idea of 
Beauty, and it’s very confusing to the 
mind. I should think they would have 
some one decide the matter once for all 
and put it in the dictionaries, then we 
should have something to go by. Only,” 
she added, laughing, “ if they should 
ask Madam Hippo to write the diction- 
ary, she would say: 

“ ‘ Beauty: A fat body, dark complex- 
ion, little eyes, flat nose, and big mouth.’ ” 

“ In that case you would have to be 
called ‘ The Ugly Princess,’ ” said the 
Fool. “ No, we’ll get some one else to 
write it.” 

“ But not the Elephant or the Porcu- 

91 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 



The Princess saw that they were stop- 
ping before a flight of steps which led 
to a great luminous bell. It was pearly 
white, and a light from within, shining 
through its translucent sides, made it 
gleam and glow here and there like a 
fire-opal, while little zigzags of green 
and blue and violet light radiated from 
these spots of flame. 

Inside, the Bell was still more beauti- 
ful, for its sides reflected like burnished 
mirrors and its floor was like mother-of- 
pearl, while from above a great ruby 
93 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


flared and flamed and filled all the Wish- 
ing Bell with a rosy light. 

The Princess gazed about her, dumb 
with admiration, until she heard the 
Fool’s voice saying: “ This is the Wish- 
ing Bell, my lady Princess, and it is 
designed to keep people from wishing 
foolishly. Once inside the Wishing Bell 
you can wish for anything you want; 
you will possess it instantly, and you 
may keep it as long as you remain inside 
the Bell.” 

“ But,” objected the Princess, “ what 
good can it possibly do you to wish if 
you cannot take your wish out into the 
world with you? ” 

“ Well,” replied the Fool, “ for one 
thing, it makes it possible for you to 
keep on trying wishes, until you find out 
what you really do want. For instance, 
I’ll wager you haven’t the least idea 
what you wish to look like, although you 
are on a quest for Beauty.” 

“ That is true,” admitted the Princess, 

94 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


slowly. “ I never thought of it before. 
I haven’t planned my looks at all, and 
I’m sure I shouldn’t think of ordering a 
gown with so little care.” 

“ Come,” said the Fool, taking her by 
the hand, “ let us go to the Wishing-step,” 
and together they mounted a raised dais 
in the centre of the floor. 

“ You wish first,” whispered the Prin- 
cess, nervously. “ I’m the least bit afraid 
of it.” 

“ Thank you, my Princess,” said the 
Fool, kissing her finger-tips ; then, 
straightening himself to his full height 
and throwing back his head, he said in 
a ringing voice: “ I wish for a straight 
back.” 

Instantly there he stood transformed, 
tall and lithe, with the strength of a lion 
and the grace of a young stag. The 
Princess stared at his reflection in the 
mirror for a long moment of surprise, 
then, turning to look in his face, she 
breathed softly, “ Why, I never thought 
95 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 

it would make such a difference. See, 
you are beautiful !” and tears came in 
her eyes as she gazed. 

“ Now you must wish,” whispered the 
Fool, unsteadily, in her ear. 

“I? Oh, yes, I forgot,” said the Prin- 
cess. “ Let me see, — shall I be tall or 
short? Which do you like best? ” 

“ Oh, if you leave it to me, I like you 
just as you are,” said the Fool. 

“ Well, I don’t,” said the Princess, 
with decision. “ I wish to be tall and 
slender; no, no, not so slender as that,” 
she said, addressing the mirror which re- 
flected her changing image. “ Just a 
wee bit less. There! that’s about right. 
Now, — I wish for a rose-leaf skin — 
Heavens, no! — that’s much too red — 
yes, — paler — yes, — there, that’s bet- 
ter!” 

“Mercy!” she exclaimed, turning to 
the Fool, “ didn’t I look like a full-blown 
peony? ” 




THE WISHBONE BOAT 


But the Fool could only stand and 
gaze. 

“ Now, golden curls,” she commanded, 
turning again to the mirror. “Urn! — 
no — on the whole, I think brown will 
be more becoming. Oh, look! Aren’t 
they charming? ” she cried, shaking her 
head till the ringlets danced. “ What 
fun! Oh, let’s hurry, — and a mouth 
that turns up and a straight nose and 
teeth, and little ears and big eyes. Oh, 
look, Fool, look! Am I not beautiful? ” 
But the Fool could only stand and gaze. 

“ Now we’ll try a dimple,” cried the 
Princess, laughing, clapping her hands 
and fairly dancing for joy. “ Now two. 
What do you think, Fool? ” turning this 
way and that to try the effect. “ Do 
you care for these dimples? Why, it’s 
just like trying on shoes, isn’t it? A 
smaller size, please. I feel like saying: 
‘ Haven’t you some that are not quite so 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 

well, I can’t think of anything else,” she 
said, doubtfully, looking at the Fool in 
the glass. Then, seeing the contrast be- 
tween his motley and her own magnifi- 
cence, a new idea struck her, and leaning 
forward to gaze into the mirror, she said, 
quickly : “ And I wish to see you dressed 
as a Prince Royal.” 

A dark stain of red flew to the Fool’s 
cheek, but the blush itself was not so 
quick as the metamorphosis, for there 
beside her, the Princess, gazing ever 
steadily into the mirror, saw a Prince of 
such royal elegance and beauty, and with 
so courtly a bearing, as she had never 
even dreamed about. 



She dropped his hand and sprang back 
from him, half in wonder and half in 
fear, exclaiming, “No, no, go away, 
please; I want my old Fool back again,” 
and there he stood before her in the 
motley, with his crooked body and his 
hunched back, only in his eyes was there 
a new light remaining. 


98 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ Come, quick, let us leave this place,” 
and the Princess ran out into the free 
air and drew a deep breath. Then 
she peeped cautiously at her compan- 
ion. 

There he stood, her same old friend, 
the Fool, and, as she caught the merry 
twinkle in the tail of his eye, she burst 
into a laugh. 

“ Tell me,” she finally managed to 
ask, gasping for breath, “ am I just as 
homely as ever? ” 

“Just exactly!” declared the Fool, 
with evident delight. 

“Dear me, what a pity!” sighed the 
Princess. “ I was so beautiful in there.” 

“ Click -i-ty 1 Click -i-ty ! Click ! Click ! Click I 
Mercy, but her waist is thick ! 

Back curves out and chest curves in, 

Such proportions are a sin. 

Arms too short and trunk too long, 

Every single thing is wrong. 

Click -i-ty ! Click-i-ty ! Click ! Click ! Click I 
Let me take your measure quick ” — 


99 


lofc. 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


sang out a clear little voice, and there 
at the foot of the steps below them, bow- 
ing and scraping, stood the funniest little 
man the Princess had ever seen. 

“ Who are you? ” she inquired. 

“ I am the Keeper of the Bell, please 
your Ladyship,” said the little man, 
jumping into the air and clicking his 
heels together. “ May I inquire whether 
madam was satisfied with her new ap- 
pearance? ” 

“ Do you mean the way I looked in 
there?” asked the Princess, pointing 
over her shoulder. 

The little man nodded. 

“ Well, yes, I think so,” said the Prin- 
cess, thoughtfully. “ There might be 
some more little things I would wish 
to add, like — er — filbert-shaped finger- 
nails with half -moons.” 

“ Oh,” acquiesced the little man, glibly, 
“ any slight alterations which madam 
might wish to order, of course — ” and 
he bowed and clicked his heels again. 

100 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“Will madam be good enough to 
come in and wish again, so that I may- 
take madam's measure? ” 

“Oh, how tiresome!" exclaimed the 
Princess. “ You wait for me here," she 
commanded the Fool, and disappeared 
with the Keeper of the Bell. 

It was but an instant’s work for the 
spry little man to take the measurements, 
which he did with a tape-line that rolled 
up automatically with a sharp snap; and 
the Princess tried to stand very still on 
the balls of her feet with her chest thrown 
out. 

“There! that will do," exclaimed the 
little man, as he sprang up and gave his 
heels a final click. The Princess turned 
to go, when out flew the tape-line with 
a spring and twisted itself about her till 
she could not move hand or foot; then it 
closed with a snap, and she was whirled 
over and over until she found herself 
running along a road that was all marked 
off into feet and inches. A crowd of 
101 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 

little people ran along beside her and 
shouted and tumbled over each other in 
the j oiliest fashion. 

The Princess looked at them more 
closely and saw to her surprise that they 
were Arabic numerals. They were all 
puffing and panting and having a great 
to-do to keep up with her, especially the 
Seven and Nine, who were both so big 
in the head that they were always fall- 
ing down in the road and having to pick 
themselves up again. Fat little Eight 
came gasping along in the rear, while 1 
and 0 were racing far ahead. The race 
seemed pretty even, for while 1 was slim 
and well-built for running, 0 made up 
for it by rolling along hoop fashion. 

“Well, I do declare!” exclaimed the 
Princess, stopping suddenly and seating 
herself on a flat brass disk by the road- 
side, “ where in the world did you all 
come from, and what are we running for, 
I should like to know? ” and she fanned 
herself violently with her handkerchief. 

102 





THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ Oh, we don’t know,” piped up sev- 
eral squeaky voices at once. “We 
thought you were trying to catch the 
7.48 or the 8.15 or the 12.11; you ran 
like it, you know.” 

“ Like what? ” demanded the Princess, 
puzzled. 

“As though it was 10 to 1 if you 
caught it,” replied the 0. 

“Pshaw!” exclaimed the Princess, 
“ that’s an old one. Why, I saw that in 
a joke-book when I was a little girl.” 

“ What are you now? ” asked No. 5, 
sitting down serenely in the lap of No. 4. 

“ I’m quite grown up,” replied the 
Princess, with dignity, “ and I am a 
Princess.” 

“Ha, ha, ha! te-he! te-he!” snickered 
the numbers. “ Anybody can see you’re 
not out of school yet. Come, how much 
is 13 times 27? ” 

“ Why — why — ” stammered the 
Princess, confused. “ Well, I know 
my 12’s, anyway,” and she recited her 
103 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


table through rapidly. To her astonish- 
ment, the numerals flew into their proper 
places as fast as she spoke their names, 
and sat grinning at her in delight when 
she had finished, looking for all the 
world like chalk marks on a blackboard. 

“ But you don’t know your 13’s,” 
jeered the 3. 

“ Well, I could do it if I had a paper 
and pencil,” insisted the Princess. 

“Use us! use us! ” shouted the numer- 
als, and before she knew it she had her 
problem standing before her in the road. 

“Dear me!” laughed the Princess, 
“ what a funny way to study arithmetic! 
What shall I use for a line under 
you? ” 

“Oh, use me!” shouted an inch line 
from the roadside, as he ran up and 
threw himself full length beneath the 
13. 

Let me see,” mused the Princess, “ 3 
times 7 is 21, put down the 1 and carry 
the 2.” 


104 




THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ Don’t put me down,” wailed the 1 ; 
“ I want to be carried, too.” 

“Goodness, what a cry-baby!” and 
the Princess put down the 1 so hard 
that he broke in two in the middle, and 
looked like a used-up toothpick. 

“ Three times 2 is 6 plus 2 — gracious! 
how am I to put you two together? ” 
asked the perplexed Princess, holding a 
6 in one hand and a 2 in the other. 

“ ’Taint right, anyway,” jeered the 
others, pointing at the problem in the 
roadway, and, looking down, the Prin- 
cess saw that the numerals had been 
playing leap-frog with each other, so 
that now her problem read 31 times 72. 

“Misery me!” exclaimed the exasper- 
ated Princess, throwing down the numer- 
als she held angrily, “ I can’t work a 
problem when it keeps changing all the 
time.” 

“ Then how can you ever expect to 
solve the problem of life? it keeps chang- 
ing all the time,” asked a severe voice 
105 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


behind her, and, turning, the Princess 
was confronted by a very cross-look- 
ing X: 

The Princess didn’t know what to 
reply to this question, so she remained 
silent, staring at the X until something 
familiar in his look made her lean for- 
ward and ask: 

“ Please, sir, are you a plus or a minus 
quantity? ” 

“ I am an unknown quantity,” he re- 
plied, with dignity, " but , if I were 
raised to the 9th power,” and the Prin- 
cess saw the little numeral 9 climb upon 
a tiny shelf beside the right arm of the 
X, dangle his one leg, and wink at her 
knowingly. 

The Princess was so taken with watch- 
ing him wink and thinking how much 
he looked like a 7, when his eye was 
closed, that she forgot to make any re- 
joinder. 

“ What should I be then? ” demanded 
the X, haughtily, folding his arms. 

106 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 

“ Why,” stammered the Princess, rub- 
bing her forehead and trying to think 
clearly, “ you couldn’t be any more un- 
known, could you? ” 

“ She doesn’t know a single thing,” 
shouted all the numerals, and they danced 
around so wildly that the Princess had 
to shut her eyes to keep from getting 
dizzy. 

“ Oh, pshaw! there isn’t a bit of sense 
in it, anyway,” declared the Princess. 
“ I’m going to — ” 

But the Princess never finished telling 
what she was going to do, for there was 
a whiz and a click, and a whirl like a 
small cyclone, and she found herself 
seated at the foot of the steps looking 
up at the patient Fool and the Keeper 
of the Bell. 

The Keeper of the Bell came hopping 
down, two at a time, and demanded, 
politely: “Would you mind getting up 
from my tape-line? ” and when the aston- 
ished Princess got up and looked, — lo! 
107 







THE WISHBONE BOAT 


she saw that she had been sitting all the 
time on the brass case of the automatic 
tape-line. 

“ I’m sure I beg your pardon,” she 
said, very humbly. 44 1 hope you haven’t 
needed it? ” 

44 Oh, not in the least, madam,” he 
replied, politely. 44 It is really of no 
use, for it has nothing on it, you see,” and 
he unrolled a perfectly blank tape before 
the eyes of the astonished Princess. 

44 1 suppose they have all gone to catch 
that train,” she said to herself, musingly. 
44 They were such an energetic lot.” 

44 Come,” said the Fool, taking from 
his pocket the tiny wishbone, 44 we must 
be going on. Are you ready? ” 

44 In just a minute,” replied the Prin- 
cess, 44 but first I must know when and 
where I am to get my — my — what 
shall I call them? ” she asked of the 
Keeper of the Bell. 

44 Madam’s best looks? ” suggested the 
Keeper of the Bell. 


108 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 

“Will they change me very much?” 
asked the Princess, doubtfully. 

“ So much that madam will need a let- 
ter of introduction to herself.” 

“Dear me!” said the Princess, “will 
my friends know me? ” 

“Oh, no!” smiled the little man; “it 
will be the best sort of a chance to get 
rid of old friends. Good-bye!” 

As the Princess took hold of the wish- 
bone and shut her eyes, she was so busy 
trying to decide what old friends she 
would be willing to lose that she was 
quite surprised to find herself again in 
the Wishbone Boat. 

“ Did you hear what he said about 
changing friends? ” she asked the Fool. 

“ Yes,” began the Fool, but the Imp 
started singing: 

“ Friends are very much like freckles, 

Both are brightest in the sun. 

When it’s cloudy you’ll be lucky 
If you have a single one.” 

109 


R 




msM 


wm 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ You are quite wrong,” said the Fool, 
“ you should be more logical. Now 
freckles are a nuisance; friends are not 
freckles, therefore, friends are not a 
nuisance.” 

“ Why, of course they’re not,” ex- 
claimed the Princess, “ and I don’t care 
to change mine a bit. Now there’s my 
Lady of the Bedchamber, she pulls my 
hair dreadfully when she combs it morn- 
ings, but she makes the best buttered 
toast; and then there’s my Court Poet; 
of course his poetry’s dreadful, but then 
his tea is delicious. You see I couldn’t 
change them, or I should never have 
afternoon tea. No, indeed!” said the 
Princess, decidedly, “ I have got quite 
used to their faults as they are. Indeed, 
I think I have almost become fond of 
them.” 

“ Do you think,” queried the Fool, 
“ they will like the changes you have or- 
dered for yourself? ” 

“Ah!” whispered the Princess, lean- 

110 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


ing forward and smiling at him till her 
dimples twinkled, “ that’s just what I 
was thinking, and the worst of it is I 
may forget who I am myself. I think 
I shall keep my old appearances to put 
on occasionally, like an old gown, so that 
I may get used to the change gradually. 
Then, when the Mistress of the Ward- 
robe comes to my bedside in the morning 
and says, ‘ Which dress will your Maj- 
esty-wear to-day? ’ I will say, ‘ You may 
bring the old brown velvet. I’m going to 
wear my old looks to-day. I really must 
be more careful about wearing out my 
best ones ; 9 or, if there is going to be a 
procession, I’ll say, ‘ Bring my pink 
satin and pearls, I must look my best 
to-day.’ Now wouldn’t that be fun? ” 
and the Princess clapped her hands at 
the idea. 

“ But have you ordered everything 
you want? ” asked the Fool. “ Perhaps 
you would like to order your looks in 


111 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


several different sets, like your cos- 
tumes .” 

“ No, oh, no,” replied the Princess, 
“ that would be too much trouble en- 
tirely, but I do want something more. 
I don’t know exactly what, but some- 
thing nice, oh, very nice indeed.” 

“ A nameless charm we cannot see 
To hold us with its mystery” — 

sang the Fool under his breath. “ Where 
shall we go for that , Imp of the Wish- 
bone? ” 

“ Oh! ” crooned the Imp, letting out 
another reef in his wings, so that they 
flew along like the wind: 

“ There is a cave beside a sea 

Where dwells a Maid of Mystery 
Who weaves upon her magic loom a subtle web of 
charm. 

But you must go alone to see 
This Magic Maid of Mystery, 

To coax the secret from her lips, the charmstring 
from her arm.” 


112 



" — — 

THE WISHBONE BOAT 


1-13 


“ Oh, I must see her,” exclaimed the 
Princess. “ How shall I get to her? ” 
“We must ask the Philosopher,” re- 
plied the Fool, and the Imp caused the 
Wishbone Boat to alight on the branches 
of a tall tree, where sat a great speckled 
Owl, his round golden eyes staring 
straight before him. 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


Chapr - 



The Charmstring. 


They all sat staring in silence for a 
few minutes, then the Princess whispered 
nervously in the Fool’s ear, “ What is 
he thinking about? ” 

“ How in the world should he know? ” 
snapped the Owl, crossly. 

“ I would like so much to know,” sug- 
gested the Princess, with her prettiest 
manner. 

“ Hoot! ” said the Owl, somewhat mol- 
lified. 


114 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ I sit, oh, foolish maiden, on this twig 'twixt earth and 
sky, 

And ask myself this question, — I shall guess it by 
and by, — 

Why is the whichness of the what ? 

What is the ifness of the but, 

The wherefore of the why ? ” 

“ Oh,” gasped the Princess, much im- 
pressed, “ you know so much and there 
are so many questions I would like to 
ask you.” 

“ Ask,” said the Owl, staring straight 
before him. 

“ Why can’t I slide up-hill? ” asked 
the Princess. 

“ Because the top of the hill is so 
much higher than the bottom,” replied 
the Owl. “ Besides, if you could slide 
up, where would be the fun of sliding 
down ? Easy ! N ext ! ” 

“ But,” objected the Princess, “ I 
should like to slide both ways.” 

“Humph!” grunted the Owl, “you 
might as well be a window and be done 
with it.” 

115 



Mm 


V m 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 

“ Well, ,, continued the Princess, si- 
lenced but not satisfied, “ why do I al- 
ways hate to go to bed at night and then 
hate just as much to get out of bed in 
the morning? ” 

“ That’s because you are a Conserva- 
tive,” replied the Owl. 

“I’m not sure I know what ‘ conserva- 
tive ’ means,” murmured the Princess, 
doubtfully. 

“ Oh, it just means lazy,” said the 
Owl. 

“ But why are all the things that are 
good to eat so bad for me, and all the 
things that are bad to eat so good for 
me? ” asked the Princess. 

“ That’s all nonsense, just between you 
and me,” whispered the Owl, “ but the 
best way is not to eat at all.” 

“Why, I should starve to death!” 
cried the Princess aghast, “ and I should 
get dreadfully hungry, besides.” 

“That’s all nonsense, too,” said the 
Owl. “ You know that: 

116 




THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ You are really dust, 

Dust doesn’t need to eat, 

Therefore, you don’t need to eat.” 

“ Well, I shall eat just the same,” 
returned the Princess, decidedly, “ and 
that reminds me, I’m starved this min- 
ute.” 

“ Bring out the caramels,” commanded 
the Fool, and the Imp drew out from the 
head of the Wishbone Boat a pink and 
gilt box all trimmed with paper lace and 
full of chocolate caramels. 

“Oh, how delicious!” exclaimed the 
Princess, curling up in the hollow of a 
big leaf, and passing the caramels to the 
Owl. 

“ Do take some,” she urged, sociably. 

“ Thank you,” said the Owl, taking 
three at a time; “ of course, what I said 
about not eating is only a theory. I 
myself have never cared to test it, but 
I have recommended it to many others.” 

“ Did any of them follow your ad- 
vice? ” asked the Fool. 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ Yes, several,” replied the Owl, reach- 
ing for another caramel. 

“And then what happened?” asked 
the Princess, eagerly. 

“ Well, it didn’t seem to agree with 
them,” replied the Owl, munching com- 
fortably on his tenth caramel, “ but I 
don’t think that was the fault of the 
theory. They never gave it a fair trial, 
for sooner or later they all began eating 
again, usually after the second day.” 

The Princess looked at the Fool out 
of the corner of her eye, and saw that 
he was laughing. 

“ It reminds me of an old story,” he 
said. 

“So?” mumbled the Owl, with his 
mouth full, “which one?” 

The Fool settled back in a forked 
branch and began: 

“ Three men of Gotham went to sea 
All in a big, round bowl ; 

They went quite unexpectedly 
And never told a soul 


118 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


" Upon the edge they sate them down 
And dangled down their feet. 

They said, * We must return to town, 

We’ve not a bite to eat.’ 

“ They sailed right out into the sun ; 

The first one ate a fish, 

The next one ate a bigger one, 

The last one ate the dish. 

“ And so these men of Gotham three 
Were forced, upon my soul, 

To give up going out to sea 
Because they had no bowl.” 

“ A most unusual taste that,” observed 
the Owl, helping himself to another car- 
amel. “ I have outgrown a sweet tooth 
myself, but never developed one for 
bowls. At present I have just cut my 
wisdom-teeth.” 

“Ah,” said the Princess, “I was sure 
you were wise, you look so wise.” 

“ That’s just the trick of it,” whis- 
pered the Owl ; “ never smile, always 

look wise, and people will think you a 
wise man, even though you be a fool.” 
119 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ Yes,” observed the Fool, “ and it’s 
just the same the other way about, too. 
Always smile and jest, and people will 
think you a fool, even though you be 
a wise man.” 

“ But,” protested the Princess, in a 
shocked tone, “ you are wise, are you 
not? ” 

“ Yes, indeed,” agreed the Owl, “ I 
know everything, or, at least, almost 
everything. If I could only find out 
one thing I should know more than any- 
body in the world.” 

“ What is that one thing? ” asked the 
Princess, with curiosity. 

“ Why is a curved line more beautiful 
than a straight one? ” asked the Owl. 

The Princess and the Fool thought 
about it a long time before they gave it 
up. 

“ You might find out for me if you 
would only visit the Mystic Maiden,” 
said the Owl, addressing the Princess. 

“I? Why — how will I get there, and 

120 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


where is she?” asked the Princess, 
eagerly. 

“ Want to try it? ” said the Owl, “ the 
Imp knows the way.” 

The Princess looked doubtfully at the 
Fool. “ It’s the same one the Imp sang 
about. I suppose it’s part of the Beauty 
Quest,” she whispered, and he nodded 
encouragement as he helped her to her 
place in the Wishbone Boat. 

“ Good-bye,” he called after her, wav- 
ing his hand gaily, “good-bye; be sure 
to come back in ten minutes,” and the 
Princess found herself sailing along 
through the air right out toward the 
place where the sun was dropping out 
of the sky. On and on and on she flew, 
until she came in sight of the sea, and 
she was just wondering whether, after 
all, she might not be in danger of drown- 
ing, when the Wishbone Boat sank with 
a gentle little plunk on the shore of the 
sea. 

“ Well,” thought the Princess, “ that 

121 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


was a very pleasant ride, I’m sure, but 
I don’t see what there is here to learn 
about a curved line, except that the sun 
is curved and so are the clouds and the 
waves and the shells. Oh, such shells! 
Such beautiful shells! I must have a 
few of them,” and, slipping from the 
Wishbone Boat, she ran down the beach. 
The waves were racing in, all red and 
gold with the reflected sunset, the sky 
rose from the horizon like a great golden 
bowl, the yellow sands of the shore shone 
and sparkled, and the Princess thought 
the whole world must surely have turned 
to gold. 

“Oh, how I should love to wade!” 
exclaimed the Princess, as she watched 
the waves run in. “ I wonder if — ” and 
then she forgot all about the Court and 
the Owl and the Wishbone Boat and the 
fact that she was a Princess, and slipping 
off her shoes and stockings and lifting 
her silken skirts, she ran up and down 
the shining wet beach, racing with the 

122 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


waves and laughing aloud with glee. 
Presently she came to a place where an 
overhanging rock formed a tiny grotto, 
and as she leaned down to look into its 
cool depths, an exclamation of delight 
escaped her, for down there in the 
shadow, where the water looked cool and 
green, there lay a great scalloped sea- 
shell; and curved within its hollow lay 
a slender Sprite humming softly to her- 
self, and combing out her long green 
hair. 

She stared at the Princess, and the 
Princess stared frankly back. It was 
the Princess who first found her tongue. 
“ Good afternoon,” she said, with much 
ceremony, “ I beg your pardon if I 
seem to intrude.” But the Sprite only 
continued to stare, and made no reply. 

“ It’s the Mystic Maiden, I shall have 
to try again,” thought the Princess. “ I 
wish there was some one to introduce 
us,” and she said, aloud: ‘‘Would you 
mind telling me who you are?” 

123 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ I’m a sea-nymph,” replied the Sprite, 
and her voice sounded like the gurgle of 
a brooklet in the spring. 

“A sea-nymph!” queried the Prin- 
cess, “ I’m afraid I don’t know what a 
sea-nymph is.” 

“ Well, I just live here in the sea and 
play all day with the sea-horses. Look! 
there they come now! ” and with a dash 
of her slim arms through the spray she 
was off to meet the breakers plunging 
and prancing out at the surf -line; and 
the Princess, watching, saw her mount 
the largest, clasp the white flowing mane 
with one hand and raise, with the other, 
a tapering pink conch - shell, through 
which she blew a shrill note as her steed 
came racing up the beach to the feet of 
the Princess. 

“Oh!” gasped the Princess, as the 
foam curled over her bare feet and 
ran back in a hundred little wrinkled 
wavelets, but the Sea-nymph only 


124 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 

laughed, and curled herself into her 
shell again. 

“ That’s what I do all day long,” and 
she sang: 

“ Down where the shells and the pearls are a-shining, 
Down where the kelp and the seaweed are twining, 
Down where the silver fish silently glide, 

Down where the starfish and sea-urchins hide, 
That’s where I stay — 

That’s where I play, 

That’s where I float and I frolic all day. 

“ Down where anemones blossom like flowers, 

Down where the coral reef looms into towers, 

Down in the deeps where the water is cool, 

Down where the dolphins are going to school, 
That’s where I stay — 

That’s where I play, 

That’s where I float and I frolic all day.” 

“ It must be lots of fun,” mused the 
Princess, sitting down cosily on the sand 
and letting the sharp little crystals run 
through her fingers, “ but it must be a 
little cold in winter, I should think.” 

“ Oh, then I go south and we play 
dive under the equator. It’s really more 
125 


R 


V i) 







THE WISHBONE BOAT 

fun there. But who are you, yourself? 
Are you a new kind of sea-nymph? ” 

“ No,” replied the Princess, half-re- 
gretfully, “ I’m a Princess, and I’m 
searching for Beauty.” 

“ And what is that? ” asked the Sea- 
nymph, curiously. 

“Beauty! don’t you know what 
Beauty is?” exclaimed the Princess, 
“and you are so beautiful!” 

“Am I?” asked the Sea-nymph, 
simply, “what is it like?” 

“ Why ! — oh ! — why ! don't you know 
really? ” faltered the Princess, “ I mean 
you are nice to look at.” 

“ Oh, then Beauty is something that 
you see, is it? ” asked the Sea-nymph, 
and she laughed a rippling laugh. 

“ No, not always, your voice is beauti- 
ful, too, especially when you laugh like 
that. It sounds like the little waterfall 
where my violets grow, — my lovely 
purple violet-bank that smells so beauti- 
fully sweet.” 

126 


T 









if 







THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“Oh! oh! oh!” laughed the Sea- 
nymph, stringing sea-shells in her hair. 
“ It’s something that you see, and it’s 
something that you hear, and it’s some- 
thing that you smell. It’s rather hard 
to understand about, isn’t it? Oh! I 
know something just as nice and lots 
easier. Don’t you want to know what 
it is? ” and she playfully splashed some 
spray on the Princess’s nose. 

“Yes! yes! do tell me!” exclaimed 
the Princess, leaning eagerly forward. 

“ I won’t tell it to you, but I’ll give 
it to you,” gurgled the Sea-nymph. 
“There! and there! and there!” and 
she threw out her round arms three 
times as if she were throwing a neck- 
lace over the Princess’s head. 

The Princess looked, and rubbed her 
eyes, and looked again. “ I don’t see 
anything,” she faltereH, “what is it?” 

“ It’s a charmstring,” murmured the 
Sea-nymph, “ You can’t see it, you 
never will see it, but every one else will, 
127 






THE WISHBONE BOAT 

and it’s better than Beauty a thousand 
times, for you can keep it always,” she 
called, swimming away, and the Prin- 
cess watched as long as she could see 
her, — a faint streak of pink in the foam 
of the breakers. 

“Dear me! how strange she was!” 
mused the Princess, “ and this charm- 
string!” — she felt all about her neck. 
“ I suppose it was just a little game she 
likes to play, I wonder what — ” 

But just then she was startled to hear 
a low grunting at her left elbow, and 
looking around she found a large, fat 
Pig seated just beside her busily en- 
gaged in opening oyster shells and 
wrapping each oyster in a thin slice of 
bacon. 

“ Why, what in the world are you do- 
ing? ” exclaimed the Princess, in amaze- 
ment. 

The Pig looked up calmly, and ad- 
justed her spectacles to get a better look 
at the Princess, before she replied: 

128 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ I am attending to my maternal 
duties,” she finally said, severely. “ I 
am arranging my little pigs-in-blankets 
for the night.” 

“Oh!” gasped the Princess, with a 
flashing recollection of her last dinner 
at home; then she felt very much em- 
barrassed and tried to think of some- 
thing pleasant to say. 

“ I suppose your — your maternal 
duties must keep you very busy,” she 
ventured at last. 

“ Oh, yes, indeed!” replied the Pig, 
with a heavy sigh, “ you see I am giving 
them all the educational advantages I 
can and it takes a great deal of trouble 
and pains.” 

“ Educational advantages!” ex- 
claimed the Princess, in surprise. 
“ Why, I never heard of an educated 

Pig-” 

“Indeed! then you haven’t heard 
much,” grunted the old Pig. “Why, 


129 






THE WISHBONE BOAT 


where will you find such manners as my 
children have? ” 

“ Where, indeed !” murmured the 
Princess. 

“ And then their squeals — did you 
ever hear such voices? ” asked the Pig, 
with evident satisfaction. 

“ Never! ” replied the Princess, laugh- 
ing to herself. 

“ And did you ever see anything curl 
so tightly as their dear little tails? ” de- 
manded the Pig, triumphantly. 

“ I never have,” admitted the Princess. 

“Well! don’t you suppose all that 
means education?” demanded the Pig. 
“ Why, some of the most elegant people 
I know are pigs.” 

“ Very likely,” replied the Princess. 

4 4 There was one especially who was 
such a gentleman,” sighed the Pig. 

“ Oh, do tell me about him,” urged the 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 

ing herself gently from side to side, she 
began : 

“ I met a gentlemanly pig 
Upon the broad highway. 

He smiled, and bowed, and doffed his hat 
And gave me a good-day. 

He looked extremely clean and neat, 

And almost good enough to eat. 

“ 1 said the day was very nice 
And it was going to storm. 

He said he had been taking cold 
It was so very warm. 

He said : ‘ I’m almost sure I feel 
A hoarseness coming in my squeal.’ 

u I said : ‘ Dear sir, I’ve often heard 
That when your throat is achin’, 

It helps to put a flannel on 
And a thick slice of bacon.’ 

He said : ‘ Your remedy I’ve tried, 

Except, / put it on my side.’ 


“ I said : ‘ A hot tub for your feet 
Will much relieve your feelings, 
And thus permit to you, dear sir, 
Your ordinary squealings.’ 

He said : 1 1 fear hot water’d tickle, 
I’ll go and put my feet in pickle.’ 



Jk 




THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ Ah, yes,” murmured the Princess, 
when the tale was finished, “I’m sure 
he was a very gentlemanly pig, indeed.” 

“ He had such charming manners,” 
agreed the Pig. 

“ That reminds me,” said the Princess, 
“ do you know what a charmstring is? ” 

The Pig shook her head. “ Never 
heard of such a thing,” she declared. 

“ Don’t you see something around my 
neck? ” asked the Princess, eagerly. 

“ Nothing but a veil,” replied the Pig. 

“ Oh, I suppose it was just a little 
joke,” murmured the Princess, but she 
felt quite disappointed, nevertheless, 
until she heard the Imp singing softly 
to himself : 

“ Ask a blind man to choose colours, 

Ask a deaf man to choose songs, 

Ask a waltz step of the shovel, 

Or a polka of the tongs ? 

“ No ; the tongs are made for lifting, 

And the shovel's made to dig, 

And the sheen upon a charmstring 
Wasn’t made to please a Pig.” 


132 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


The Princess saw that the Imp was 
spreading his wings slowly, preparatory 
to flight, and turning to the Pig, she 
remarked: “I’m sorry to leave you, but 
I really must be going. You see, I 
came here to find out why a curved line 
is more beautiful than a straight one, 
but I was so interested in the Mystic 
Maiden that I forgot to ask her, and 
now I shall have to go back without 
knowing,” and she took her place in the 
Wishbone Boat. 

“ If that’s all,” remarked the Pig, 
putting on her sunbonnet, and starting 
for home, “ if that’s all, I can tell you 
that.” 

“Can you, indeed!” exclaimed the 
Princess in surprise, “ do tell me, and 
how you happened to know? ” 

“ Well,” said the Pig, “ it’s because it 
goes on for ever, and I learned it when 
I got my tail curled,” and she trotted 
off down the beach. 

“ What a strange reason,” mused the 

133 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 

Princess, as they flew along over hill and 
dale. 

“ The Owl will puff his feathers out 
And blink his golden eye 
Without discovering a bit 

The wherefore of the why ” — 

chanted the Imp, slyly. 

“ Do you know, Imp of the Wish- 
bone?” demanded the Princess, sud- 
denly; then as the Imp smiled at her 
roguishly over his shoulder, she shook 
her finger at him, and said, “ I believe 
you do — and I believe you know where 
I could find Beauty, too, if you would 
only tell me,” and she pouted out her 
underlip at him. 

“ I could never tell you — no, 

Perfect Beauty has to grow ” — 

replied the Imp, as he wheeled the Wish- 
bone about, and stopped before the Owl’s 
tree. 

“Ah! you are back,” cried the Fool, 
springing up to help the Princess to 
alight, but she waved him aside. 

134 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 

“ No,” she said, “ I’m not going to 
get out at all, for we must travel on, 
but I wanted to tell the Owl that the 
Pig says the curved line is more beauti- 
ful because it- goes on for ever. That 
was really all I could find out about 
it.” Then as the Fool stepped aboard, 
and they got under way, she called back 
to the Owl, “ I do hope those chocolate 
caramels won’t disagree with you, but 
if they do just try your own theory 
about not eating and you’ll soon feel 
better.” 


135 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 



“ Did you meet the Mystic Maiden? ” 
asked the Fool, when they were again 
under way. 

“I did, I did!” exclaimed the Prin- 
cess, enthusiastically, throwing back her 
veil. “ Do you see anything — anything 
new and strange about me ? ” 

“ No ! — yes, — I don’t know,” hesi- 
tated the Fool, “ you seem the same, yet 
there is a difference. Yes! yes! I see 
what it is,” he cried, at last; “you have 
a sort of a golden glory wrapped around 

136 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


you till you shine like a star, but I can’t 
quite see what it is nor where it is, for 
when I think it is in your hair, and look 
there, then it flies to your eyes, and when 
I search for it in your eyes it hides right 
under your chin. Why, it really makes 
you seem beautiful, my Princess.” 

“Ah, she said so!” exclaimed the 
Princess, clapping her hands with de- 
light. “ It’s the charmstring; it’s the 
charmstring! she said it was better than 
Beauty a thousand times.” 

“ I believe it,” replied the Fool, “ you 
see it’s almost like a game of hide-and- 
seek; you never can tell just where it is, 
for as soon as you make up your mind 
it’s in one place, it’s sure to appear in 
another.” 

“Oh, I’m so glad! I’m so glad!” 
sighed the Princess, happily, “for she 
said I might keep it always.” She pon- 
dered a moment, and then said, laugh- 
ing: “How funny the Owl was! Do 
you know I don’t believe he was half 
137 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 

so wise as he pretended to be, do 
you? ” 

“ No,” replied the Fool, “ and that’s 
one thing you learn on a Beauty Quest, 
— that you can’t depend on looks. Now 
look at me! I know I look gay and 
happy, but, in reality, I am very mis- 
erable, for I am freezing to death.” 

“ Dear me,” said the Princess, with 
deep concern, “ where can we go to get 
warm? I wonder if the Imp would 
know,” but the Imp was singing to 
himself. “ Hark, what does he say? ” 
asked the Princess. 

“ He’s giving us advice,” whispered 
the Fool. “ Listen.” 

The Imp was swinging his little pink 
toes, and steering straight downward, as 
he sang, softly: 

“ A personage, whom I know well, 

Helps on the Weather Bureau 
To settle things. A freezing spell 
Will send him down to Zero. 

He’s very sensitive to heat, 

And lives below in Drug Store Street.” 


138 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


The Princess saw that they were ap- 
proaching a row of tiny shops, and as 
they came nearer she noted that they 
were all exactly alike ; each one had 
great vases of bright red and green 
lights hung in the window, and over the 
door a large golden mortar and pestle. 
“ I suppose this is Drug Store Street,” 
she said to the Fool, “ and here is the 
‘ personage,’ ” for a tall, thin individual 
had come out of one of the shop doors, 
and stood waiting to receive them. 

“You are most welcome,” he said, as 
he helped the Princess to alight. “ Come 
right in,” and he threw open the door 
of the first shop in the most hospitable 
manner. 

“ Thank you,” replied the Princess; 
“ we shall be so glad to get warm. My 
poor friend, the Fool, is nearly frozen.” 

“ Ah, we’ll soon have a fire,” said 
their new friend, briskly, lighting a pile 
of brushwood, and lying flat on his stom- 
ach to blow it into flame. 

139 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


The Princess glanced about her and 
found, to her surprise, that they were still 
out-of-doors. She looked back at the 
door through which they had come and 
saw that, while on the other side it had 
been the front door of the Drug Store, 
on this side it was the back door, and 
that all the other little shops were just 
like it. 

“Why!” she cried, in astonishment, 
“ what a queer arrangement ! Where is 
the Drug Store? ” 

“ Well, you see, miss,” replied the 
slender gentleman, who was still on his 
knees and quite out of breath over his 
efforts to make the fire burn, “ you see, 
my health is so delicate, I’m very sensi- 



tive here to sudden changes,” and he put 
his hand on his chest. 

The Princess noticed for the first time 
that his white shirt -bosom was marked 
off with tiny horizontal lines, and that 
a thin thread of silver ran up and down 
the place where his buttons should have 


140 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


been. “ The Doctors won’t let me live 
indoors at all, miss, and as my business 
makes it necessary for me to live at a 
Drug Store between the red and green 
lights, I hit upon this plan of building 
just the fronts and the backs of Drug 
Stores and leaving the Drug Stores out. 
It’s really much better, for then there 
is no need to buy all that nasty medicine.” 

“ A great invention,” observed the 
Fool, warming his back at the fire. 
“You have simply retained all the essen- 
tial features and left out the unnecessary 
part. You are a great man.” 

“ Excuse me,” murmured their new 
friend, bowing stiffly, “ I am Mr. Ther- 
mometer,” and he handed the Fool his 
card, on which was written, “ Colder to- 
night with flurries of snow.” 

“ Oh, yes,” exclaimed the Princess, de- 
lighted, “ I was sure I had met you be- 
fore, Mr. Thermometer. Your business 
is to regulate the weather, isn’t it? ” 

The Thermometer bowed gravely. 

141 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ A delightful business that,” observed 
the Fool, as he warmed his hands at the 
fire. “ I wonder how it feels to have 
people consulting you all day long. It 
gives you quite a professional air, doesn’t 
it?” 

“ The trouble is,” sighed the Ther- 
mometer again, “ my business is so un- 
even. Some days every one wants to see 
me, and my office hours run around the 
clock; then for days nobody comes near 
me. Oh, it’s a dog’s life! ” 

“ Pst-tt, pst-tt! who said dogs?” 
sounded from the neighbouring willow- 
bushes, and all the pussy-willows put up 
their backs and showed their teeth. 

“ Oh, don’t be frightened,” said the 
Princess, soothingly, “ there isn’t a dog 
this side of Beggar’s Town. Won’t you 
come down here by the fire? ” she coaxed, 
invitingly. 

“Meow! meow! we don’t care if we 
do,” they all purred, and slid down the 


142 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


branches and came up in a cosy circle 
about the fire. 

“ Well, you are as silky as an Angora, 
I declare! ” exclaimed the Princess, strok- 
ing a plump one. “ What kind of a cat 
are you, anyway? ” 

“ Oh, we’re all ’f raid-cats,” purred the 
circle. 

“ ’Fraid - cats,” laughed the Fool. 
“Pooh! what are you ’fraid of?” 

“ Boys and dogs and gobble-goos,” 
announced the cats, briefly. 

“ Gobble-goos! What are they, and 
why are you afraid of them? ” asked the 
Princess. 

“ Shs-sh! phst! ” hissed all the Pussy- 
willows, putting up their backs. Then 
3 the biggest one began to sing, while all 
the others blew an accompaniment on 
fine-tooth combs covered with tissue- 
paper. 

THE GOBBLE-GOOS 

“ I wouldn’t be a gobble-goo, 

And prowl around the livelong night, 

14S 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


And give the children such a fright. 

I wouldn’t be a gobble-goo, 

O-ough ! — would you ? 
I wouldn’t be a gobble-goo, would you ? 

“ I wouldn’t hide beneath the beds 
To gobble up the small pink toes. 

I wouldn’t bite off all the heads 
Of naughty boys asleep in rows. 

I wouldn’t shriek down chimney-flues, 

Nor shake the house o’ windy nights, 

Nor blow out all the candle-lights 
That scare away the gobble-goos. 

“I wouldn’t be a gobble-goo, 

O-ough ! — would you ? 

I wouldn’t be a gobble-goo, would you ? 

“I wouldn’t sniffle on the stairs 
To grab a fellow by the heels, 

Nor wait around like hungry bears 
Who like bad children for their meals. 

If I were big Policeman Day 

I’d ’rest ’em all — that’s what I’d do 
It ought to be against the law 
To be a horrid gobble-goo. 

“I wouldn’t be a gobble-goo, 

And prowl around the livelong night, 

And give the children such a fright. 

I wouldn’t be a gobble-goo, 

O-ough ! — would you ? 
I wouldn’t be a gobble-goo, would you?” 


144 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“Bhoo-oo!” shivered the Thermome- 
ter. “Mercy! you’ve scared me so, I’ve 
gone down below zero, and shall take 
my death a-cold.” 

“ Nonsense! ” replied the Fool; “ just 
tell yourself it’s ninety in the shade, and 
you’ll soon feel quite comfortable. Don’t 
you know that cold has no real existence, 
being merely the absence of heat? ” 

“ That may be,” exclaimed the Prin- 
cess, “ but is hunger just the absence of 
food? I’m starved. Isn’t there some- 
thing to eat here? ” 

“ ‘ Eat? ’ That rhymes with ‘ feet.’ 
Are yours warm now? ” asked the Ther- 
mometer of the Fool. 

“ Quite so, thank you,” replied the 
Fool, “ but you forget that ‘ eat ’ also 
rhymes with ‘ meat.’ ” 

“ Isn’t it curious about rhymes? ” 
mused the Princess. “ I always thought 
it sort of providential that * tick-tock ’ 
rhymes with 4 clock.’ ” 


145 





. 


* 








f 











i 

\ 






THE WISHBONE BOAT 


r 

returned the Thermometer, “ and that is 
why this boat that is coming is in 
trouble. Ship ahoy there ! ” 

“Help! help!” came back in a score 
of squeaky voices, and peering up- 
stream, the Fool and the Princess saw 
approaching a queer sort of squat house- 
boat, crowded with little people. The 
boat was stuck in the mud, and the little 
people were running about in the great- 
est excitement, trying to push her off. 

“Look out there! More to port! 
Steady now! All together! Heave- 
ye-ho!” and the boat loosened her hold 
in the bank and floated down-stream 
toward them. 

“ Why, it’s the Ark, and these are our 
friends the dolls!” exclaimed the Prin- 
cess, fairly dancing on tiptoe in her ex- 
citement. 

“Yes, there is the Judge and the 
Bailiff,” replied the Fool. “ Shall we 
let them land? ” 

“ Oh, yes, by all means,” assented the 

147 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


Princess, and the Fool waded out into 
midstream beside the Thermometer and 
helped bring the helpless craft to shore. 

The dolls and toys scrambled out in 
a twinkling, and the Princess greeted 
them all very cordially and took them 
to the fire to warm themselves. 

“ Oh, my dear, such a terrible jour- 
ney! ” sobbed the Bisque Doll, weeping 
upon the shoulder of the Princess. “ My 
eyes won’t shut at all since the Hippo- 
potamus took my wig off, and I’ve lost 
a dreadful amount of sawdust. I shall 
never be any shape at all again. Oh, 
dear! oh, dear!” 

“ There! there! never mind,” soothed 
the Princess, patting her gently on the 
back. “ Don’t you cry,” but, as the 
Bisque Doll sat up to wipe her eyes, 
the Princess saw that a small toy ever- 
green tree had fallen into the hole in 
her head and seemed to be growing there, 
giving her a most comical appearance. 

“ It’s an outrage,” growled the Pink 

148 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


Lion, as he flung himself down beside the 
fire. “ I haven’t had a decent meal for 
an age,” and he snapped his jaws till the 
Bisque Doll shivered. 

“ It’s good enough for you. You’re 
nothing but a crowd of pirates, anyway,” 
squealed the Tin Bank, in a very rusty 
voice. 

“ Hush! I enjoin you from making 
any more fuss about your money. Noth- 
ing but a lot of coppers, anyway,” roared 
the Hippopotamus, and he sat down on 
the Tin Bank so hard that it flattened 
out like a sheet of paper. 

“Come, come!” cried the Princess, 
dreading another quarrel, “ I know you 
are all hungry and cold and very un- 
comfortable. Sit up around the fire and 
get warm while I see what we can find 
for your supper.” 

“ Oh, do manage a little sawdust for 
me, my dear,” begged the Bisque Doll. 
“ I’m so ashamed of the way I look, and 


149 


.,*e 




Jj Km 


i'4; 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 

I’ve always been considered such a 
beauty.” 

“Goodness!” thought the Princess in 
dismay, but she only said, “ I’m sure I 
can find something for you.” 

“ Oh, thank you,” murmured the 
Bisque Doll, tearfully. “ You know if 
my beauty is lost, I have nothing left 
to fall back on.” 

“ Well, don’t you fall back on me,” 
said the Lady Doll, haughtily. “ It’s 
all I can do to keep up myself without 
helping you,” and she seated herself 
with great dignity upon the drum be- 
side the Pink Lion. 

“ Here! get off that drum, will you? ” 
screamed the Pink Lion, in a passion, but 
the Lady Doll had only to put up her 
glasses and stare at him to make him lie 
down quietly and go to sleep again. 

“What shall we give them to eat?” 
whispered the Princess to the Fool. “ I 
can’t imagine what they would like.” 

“ Let us ask the Noah family,” re- 

150 



r 

THE WISHBONE BOAT 


plied the Fool, and they beckoned Mr. 
and Mrs. Noah to one side. 


“ I wish to ask your advice about the 

| 4 1 

menu, ,, said the Princess, prettily, turn- 
ing to Mrs. Noah. “ What shall I give 

p ; l\ 

them to eat and where shall I get it? ” 


“ La! they do need fillin’, miss,” re- 

A - 

plied Mrs. Noah. “ They’re the worst 


folks to suit at table! Why, when I had 
my own family alone, it was easy 

sfc.Jjs 

enough; we just had wooden tooth- 


picks mornin’, noon, and night; but since 
these dolls came along, we’ve had such a 
time. Do you s’pose they'd eat tooth- 
picks? Not they!” 

fipr 

ififli! 

“ Oh, don’t make such a fuss, ma,” 
objected Noah. “ All we had to do was 
grind the toothpicks into sawdust, and 

S Xfc 

m s 

they eat ’em all right.” 

llgi < £T'! 

“ Yes,” Mrs. Noah snapped back at 
him, “ and who did the grinding, I 
should like to know? Not you , you lazy, 

i I 

good-for-nothing — ” 

rl'-VN 

“ But where can I get even toothpicks 

151 





THE WISHBONE BOAT 


and sawdust? ” interrupted the Princess, 
anxious to prevent another scene. “You 
see, there’s no inside to these Drug Stores 
and so — ” 

“La, miss! you can have what’s left 
on the Ark, and welcome,” said Mrs. 
Noah. “ We’ll go and fetch it for you,” 
and away waddled Mr. and Mrs. Noah 
side by side. 

“ Alike as two peas,” observed the 
Fool, watching them slide down the bank 
and board the Ark. 

“ I wish they wouldn’t quarrel so,” 
sighed the Princess; “it seems so un- 
kind.” 

“ Don’t you remember the motto on 
the Toy Shop? ” asked the Fool. 
“‘Leave your wits and hearts outside!’ 
You see they haven’t any, and so what 
can you expect of them? ” 

“ Nothing, I suppose,” admitted the 
Princess, reluctantly, “ but you see they 
are not even pretty any more. Just see 
how ridiculous the Bisque Doll looks 

152 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


with that evergreen tree growing out of 
her empty head, and the Lady Doll — ” 

“ Please, miss, here’s the supper,” 
piped a voice at her elbow, and the 
Princess, turning, found Noah and Mrs. 
Noah carrying between them the roof 
of the Ark turned upside down and filled 
with sawdust and toothpicks. 

“We brought it for a table, miss,” 
explained Mrs. Noah, as she placed it 
near the fire. 

“ Oh, that will do nicely,” said the 
Princess. “ Come now, my dears,” she 
called to the other toys, “ and have your 
suppers.” The toys needed no second 
invitation, but crowded about the table, 
pushing rudely for the best places. The 
Princess sat in state at the head of the 
table, the Hippopotamus filled the other 
end, while the Fool and the Thermometer 
stood on either side and helped to pass 
things. 

“ What a very common way to serve 
a supper,” observed the Lady Doll, put- 
153 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


ting up her glasses and looking scorn- 
fully up and down the table. 

“ I suppose she thinks she’s turning 
up her nose,” whispered the Peasant Doll 
in the ear of the Princess. “ She doesn’t 
know the end of it was chipped off long 
ago.” 

“Pooh! you needn’t say anything,” 
sneered the Wax Doll, staring at the 
Lady Doll with her eyes wide open ; 
“ we had all the china tea-sets on our 
shelf when we lived in the Toy Shop. 
I guess if any one is to make a fuss I 
shall.” 

“You, indeed,” screamed the Lady 
Doll, shaking her head till her wig fell 
over on her left ear. “ What are you 
but just wax, wax that will melt if you 
get too warm, and those cheeks you are 
so proud of — silly thing ! — would rub 
right off. Ho! do you think I don’t 
know why you chose to sit on that side 
of the table away from the fire? The 
idea of your pretending to be in my set! ” 

154 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


Here she shook her lorgnette at the Wax 
Doll so violently that her arm came off 
and fell into the sawdust, whence it was 
only rescued by the Fool. 

“ Stop your noise! ” roared the Hippo- 
potamus, “ or I’ll call up the military 
and have you all arrested. Pass me the 
rest of the things to eat.” 

“ Oh, look! he’s eaten everything at 
his end of the table,” screamed the Pink 
Lion. “For shame, pig!” 

“ Ouch! I’ve scorched all the paint off 
my tail,” moaned the Tin Monkey, who 
sat nearest the fire. 

“ I’ve lost my cud,” wailed the slab- 
sided Cow. 

“ My wig is getting loose,” wept the 
Wax Doll. 

The Princess beckoned to the Fool 
and the Thermometer. “We must do 
something for them,” she whispered, 
“ but where shall we get the things? 
If we only had a bottle of glue, some 
paints, and some sawdust, we could make 
155 


r?i 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 

them all as good as new. Now if this 
Drug Store had an inside — ” 

“Oh!” said the Thermometer, “is 
that all! That’s easily managed. What 
do you think I have a night-bell for? ” 
He ran to the night-bell, rang long and 
hard, and then shouted down the speak- 
ing-tube, “ Send me up six bottles of 
glue, a box of paints, and ten pounds 
of sawdust;” and before the Princess 
could recover from her astonishment, the 
dumb-waiter had come up with a bang, 
bringing the glue, the paint, and the saw- 
dust. She was very curious to investi- 
gate this remarkable night-bell, but there 
was no time to lose if the toys were to 
be made comfortable, and she fell to 
work with the Fool, gluing on wigs and 
arms and legs, while the toys, one by 
one, fell asleep. 

“ Let’s paint the Pink Lion green,” 
suggested the Fool. “ He such a jealous 
old thing, it will just suit him.” 

“ And make the Hippopotamus pink, 

156 


I 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


and change the colours about on Noah 
and his wife, so they never can find out 
which is which,” chimed in the Ther- 
mometer. 

“ And the Tin Soldiers should be 
white, they showed the white feather so,” 
added the Fool, remembering the wooden 
cannon and the powdered sugar. 

But the Princess would have none of 
it. “ They are going to a ball, you know, 
a ball given by Oberon in the Dryads’ 
Forest, and they must look their best,” 
she said. 

So she had her way, and when the last 
cheek had been rouged and the last wig 
glued on, the Princess surveyed the circle 
of sleeping toys with great satisfaction. 

“ There! ’’ she said, as she gave a final 
touch to the cheeks of the Wax Doll, 
“ you are just as good as new again. I 
hope you’ll keep your beauty a long, long 
time, but it’s only the wax-doll kind, 
my dear, it’s only the wax-doll kind.” 
Then turning to the Fool with a weary 
157 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


little smile, she said: “ There must be 
a better kind somewhere. Come, let us 
go in search of it.” 

“ Have you forgotten your charm- 
string?” whispered the Fool, softly, in 
her ear, but the Princess shook her head 
mournfully. 

“ No,” she replied, “ but I’m not sat- 
isfied with that; I still wish to be beau- 
tiful. Surely there must be somewhere 
a Beauty which is worth while.” 

“ Are you interested in Beauty? ” in- 
quired the Thermometer, who had over- 
heard her last remark. 

“ Yes, we are on a Beauty Quest,” 
explained the Fool, “ and the Wishbone 
Boat is waiting for us. We are very 
grateful to you for your hospitality, but 
we must be going on our way.” 

“If the lady is interested in Beauty, 
sir,” said the Thermometer, “ she can’t 
do better than to visit Mother Nature’s 
dancing school. It’s the place to learn 
manners and grace. Not that I pretend 

158 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


to know much about grace, miss,” bowing 
stiffly to the Princess, “ but being built 
on straight lines, I hadn’t much chance, 
you see, having no curves to be graceful 
with, but I’ve seen her teach the others.” 

“ Oh, that’s what the Owl said, you 
know, about a straight and a curved 
line,” broke in the Princess. “ Perhaps 
we might find out why a curved line is 
beautiful. Do let us go,” she begged. 

“ But where do we go, and is it a 
perfectly safe journey? ” asked the Fool, 
wishing to please her. “ I’m afraid my 
Imp doesn’t know the way.” 

“ I will take you with me,” offered the 
Thermometer, cordially. “ I am going 
down below Zero to-night, anyway, and 
you can go right along. It won’t be the 
least trouble in the world.” 

“ Oh, thank you! ” exclaimed the Prin- 
cess. “ I should like so much to go. 
What will you do with the Wishbone 
Boat? ” she asked the Fool. 

“ Take it with me,” replied the Fool, 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


and, stepping through the door to the 
front of the Drug Store, he snapped the 
Imp into the Wishbone, put it in his 
pocket, and was back ready to start be- 
fore the Thermometer could ring the 
night-bell. 

“ Send up the dumb-waiter. I’m go- 
ing down below Zero!” he shouted into 
the speaking-tube, and taking a big 0 
he tacked it on the wall over the dumb- 
waiter, and helped the Princess and the 
Fool to get aboard. 

“ Are you ready? ” he cried, spring- 
ing in himself and pulling the rope. 

As they started, the Princess threw a 
kiss to the sleeping toys huddled about 
the fire. “ Good-bye, dears,” she called, 
softly, “.I hope I shall meet you again 
soon,” and then everything was dark and 
they found themselves sliding rapidly 
downward. The Princess was a little 
frightened and clung fast to the Fool’s 
arm, but it seemed only a moment before 
the dumb-waiter stopped and a door flew 

160 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


open. “Here you are!” they heard the 
Thermometer say, and they stepped out 
into a dim hallway. “ First door to your 
left. Good-bye!” called the Thermom- 
eter, and as the door banged shut behind 
them, they could hear the buzz of the 
dumb-waiter on its way to Zero. 

“ Boo-oo! ” shivered the Princess, “ I’m 
freezing here; do knock.” 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 



A neat little Bachelor’s Button opened 
the door and conducted them to a high 
seat curtained and canopied with green. 

“ This is Jack’s Pulpit,” he whispered, 
“ but he’s dancing now, so I’m sure he 
won’t mind your sitting here, and it’s 
a fine place to see the lesson,” and with 
a quick little bob of a bow he disap- 
peared. 

When they were seated and had time 
to look about them, the Princess and the 
Fool saw that they were in a great hall. 
Springing arches of gold supported a 

162 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


roof, through which the soft light 
streamed in long shafts of violet. A 
faint bird-like melody, as of a wood- 
wind choir, floated upon the air; while 
to and fro, across the brown floor be- 
neath, masses of colour seemed to be 
rhythmically moving; and at the farther 
end, upon a splendid throne, sat a form, 
outlined in simple flowing lines, but so 
veiled in mists of purple and yellow and 
gray as to be but dimly visible. 

“ Who is on the throne? ” whispered 
the Princess, pinching the Fool, to make 
sure she was awake. 

“ It’s Mother Nature herself,” replied 
the Fool, reverently. 

Then there emerged from the colour- 
masses a graceful young figure which 
seemed fairly to float before them, so 
lightly did her slim white feet touch 
earth. 

A drapery of tender green floated out 
from her in trailing ends, and the wav- 
ing tendrils of her hair shone like gold. 
163 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


Up and down the long hall she swayed, 
and the air was full of the scent of earth 
new-turned in the spring-time, and all 
about her appeared sweet spring beauties, 
daff odils and snowdrops, and cowslips 
and violets. Then from her laughing 
lips trilled out a flute-like voice singing: 

« Do you know this merry maiden 

Who comes tripping down the way ? 

Both her hands are blossom-laden, 

With her hair the breezes play, 

All the path grows green before her, 

And her dainty, dancing feet 
Call the blossoms which adore her 
Forth to shed their perfume sweet. 

Back she calls the birds a-wing 

From the South their mates to bring ; 

Teaches frozen brooks to sing, 

Teaches tender vines to cling, 

Tells the bluebells when to ring, 

Till bird and bud and everything 
Welcome back the new-born Spring.” 

“ Oh, do you see what they are? ” whis- 
pered the Princess, “ they are the flowers, 
— the spring flowers learning to dance, 
and Spring is teaching them.” 


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' 









THE WISHBONE BOAT 

“Yes,” the Fool whispered back, 
softly, “ it’s Mother Nature’s dancing 
school. Just watch the daffodils.” 

The Princess’s foot was tapping and 
she was unconsciously swaying to the 
swing of the melody, as she watched 
the yellow satin skirts of the daffodils 
shine in and out among the prim little 
snowdrops, or the violets nod to the cow- 
slips. 

On they danced — on — past the cur- 
tained seat where the Princess sat watch- 
ing, — on — till the gray mist hid them 
and their places were taken by a great 
group of dancers led by a creature of 
surpassing loveliness. Her robe seemed 
made from one great poppy petal and 
wreaths of flaming poppies crowned her 
blue-black hair and hung in garlands 
from her white arms. 

And now it was as though all the 
strings of the orchestra had been added 
to the wood-wind choir, and, as the 
strong, sweet note of the violins rang 
165 


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THE WISHBONE BOAT 


out against the throbbing of the viols, 
the Princess felt her pulses spring with 
a bound of joy, and she whispered softly 
to the Fool: 

“ I almost believe I could dance now.” 

“ I almost believe you could, my Prin- 
cess,” whispered the Fool, smiling into 
her happy eyes. 

On the floor below them rose-beauties 
with spreading skirts danced the minuet 
with dandy coxcombs, sweet-pea ladies 
in dainty bonnets curtsied low to the gal- 
lant larkspur, and full-blown peonies 
romped through the “ Sir Roger de Cov- 
erley ” with bouncing-bet and flaming 
tiger-lilies, while hollyhock ladies drew 
aside their satin skirts in haughty disdain. 

At last there came a moment when the 
ballroom floor looked like a true “ Field 
of the Cloth of Gold,” for the goldenrod 
ladies were sweeping their golden plumes 
about right regally, and their slender 
partners, the purple asters and brown 
cat-tails, led them in so stately a meas- 

166 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


ure and with so stately a grace that the 
Princess could not refrain from softly 
clapping her hands. 

“ Oh, that was the best, — the very 
best of all. Look! look! What’s com- 
ing now? ” she cried excitedly, for there 
was a great commotion on the ballroom 
floor, as the last dancers vanished and 
new ones whirled in to take their places. 

These were led by a heavy-eyed beauty, 
whose burnished locks of reddish gold 
were crowned with wheat-heads and clus- 
ters of purple grapes. A velvety robe 
of brown and purple and gold swept in 
great folds about her feet, and in her 
arms she carried baskets overflowing with 
fruits and nuts and grains. 

She advanced slowly down the long 
hall, and the Princess saw a dreamy 
smile curve her ripe lips, as the dancers 
whirled about her. 

“Oh, it’s Autumn! and these are ac- 
tually autumn leaves!” declared the 
Princess, catching her breath with de- 
167 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


light, “ and oh, look!” For the music 
had taken a new strain and went sliding 
up and down the chromatic scale at a 
faster and still faster tempo, and the 
autumn leaves, in every shade of crimson 
and gold and russet-brown, whirled this 
way and that in so wild a measure that 
they only touched earth now and then 
to pause for breath. Faster and faster 
went the throbbing music, wilder and 
wilder grew the dance, brilliant and more 
brilliant flamed the yellow and the red, 
until there appeared in the midst of the 
scene, tall slender figures clad in sober 
gray, and bearing aloft, high over the 
heads of the company, great jewel-boxes. 

“ Who are the treasure -bearers? ” asked 
the Fool, in a low tone. 

“ I’m not sure,” replied the Princess, 
below her breath, “ but they look exactly 
like milkweeds, when the pods are ripe 
in the fall.” 

There came a pause in the music, the 
dancing ceased, and a mysterious voice, 

168 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


proceeding from the veiled throne, 
chanted : 

“ My children, you have learned your lessons well. 

Keep each unto his kind. Each has his place 
And need for being in the busy world. 

Guard each the spark of life within your care 
As sovereigns guard their jewelled diadems. 

Sleep well until you hear the bluebird’s note 
Or roundelay from any feathered throat. 

But when the brooks and birds begin to sing, 

Take back to earth the miracle of spring.” 

The voice died away and the music 
began again with the blare of hundreds 
of tiny trumpets added to the reeds 
and the strings. The treasure-boxes 
flew open, and out fluttered hundreds 
of milkweed maidens clad all in shining 
brown, and as they spread out their 
silver wings the autumn leaves gave a 
bound, and the music and the dance 
went on in mid-air at a passionate pace, 
until there was a snap as of the break- 
ing of a thousand strings, and the Prin- 
cess found herself pushing upward in 
total darkness. 

169 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


Chapter IX. 




After that, she was dimly conscious 
of a rocking motion, and of a crooning 
lullaby, and she dropped off to sleep and 
dreamed she was a milkweed seed lying 
snug with all her sister seeds in the pod, 
and that all the others were crowding — 
crowding, and when at last they pushed 
her out into the world, she wakened with 
a start to find herself swaying to and 
fro in the heart of a lily. 

The gentle motion was so pleasant 

170 


? 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


and she felt so deliciously drowsy that 
she did not even try to remember how 
she came there, but lay, with half -open 
eyes, admiring the yellow velvet of her 
fragrant couch and the pearly whiteness 
of its hangings. 

“How still it is!” thought the Prin- 
cess; then, as her ears caught a faint note, 
she drew the petals of her lily couch a 
little aside that she might listen. 
“Hark!” she whispered to herself, 
“ some one is singing.” 

“We are Dryad, Dryad Maidens, 

Hid in heart of forest tree, 


Now upon Midsummer evening 
Set us free — oh ! set us free.’ 



“ Who are they? Where can they 
be?” thought the Princess, peering this 
way and that to catch a glimpse of the 
singers. 

“ Hark the sighing of the South Wind; 

He is calling us to be 
Loosened from our darkened prisons. 

Set us free — oh ! set us free.” 


171 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


This time it came fuller and clearer, 
and the Princess, watching, saw a sudden 
wind shake the oak-trees; saw their great 
trunks open, and to her astonishment 
there emerged from their very hearts 
creatures of such radiant loveliness that 
the Princess thought she must be dream- 
ing. They were slim and lissom and 
young, and their shining brown tresses, 
tossing about in the breezes, were bound 
with fillets of russet oak leaves, while 
misty veils of green fell from their white 
shoulders. Here and there they flitted 
among the trees, sometimes in merry 
chase, sometimes dancing in a swaying 
circle while they chanted: 

“ We are Dryad, Dryad Maidens. 

Ours the magic kiss and power 
To subtract from mortal ages 

Year by year — and hour by hour.” 

Around and around they whirled and 
away and away they danced till they 
were lost to view, and only the refrain 
came floating faintly back to the ears 

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THE WISHBONE BOAT 


of the Princess: “ We are Dryad, Dryad 
Maidens — ” 

“ Oh,” sighed the Princess, “ how beau- 
tiful they are. Now I have found it 
at last. This is Beauty. How common- 
place the dolls seem beside these glorious 
creatures! Oh, I wish to be a 4 Dryad 
— Dryad Maiden/ and I’m longing to 
be free myself. Let me get out of this 
lily-bud.” 

She tried to rise, but found herself a 
prisoner, bound by a thousand invisible 
bonds. She tried to speak, to call for 
help, but was unable to utter a sound. 
She struggled and struggled but all to 
no purpose. Her lily-bud couch was just 
as lovely as at first, but it was a prison 
nevertheless. 

“ Oh, bother!” ejaculated the Princess 
under her breath. “ Here’s a pretty 
howdy-do, indeed!” 

“Howdy-do! howdy-do!” hummed a 
fine, thin voice close to her ear, and look- 


173 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


in g in that direction, the Princess saw 
a gigantic mosquito. 

“ At least he looks gigantic,” said the 
Princess to herself, staring at him in 
amazement, “ but that may be just be- 
cause I’ve shrunk, for I must have 
shrunk to be inside this lily-bud. Per- 
haps I would better inquire.” 

“ If you please — ” she began in a 
low whisper. 

44 But I don’t please at all,” buzzed the 
Mosquito. 

“ Well,” pleaded the poor Princess in 
despair, “ I only wanted to ask you if you 
are unusually big, or am I unusually 
little? ” 

4 4 Since I don’t know your usual size, 
how in the world can I tell?” shrilled 
the little voice. 

“ No, I suppose you can’t be expected 
to know,” wailed the Princess, ready to 
cry, 4 4 but why can’t I speak out 
loud? ” 

“Loud!” screamed the Mosquito, 44 if 

174 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 

you speak any louder, you will split my 
ear-drums.” 

“ Can you tell me where I am, then? ” 
sighed the Princess. “ Come, that would 
be something. Where am I, and how 
did I get here? The last I knew I was 
visiting Mother Nature’s dancing school, 
and now I find myself here in this lily- 
bud, a prisoner and unable to speak. 
What has happened to me? ” 

“ Um! so that's what happened,” 
buzzed the Mosquito, reflectively, and 
the Princess noticed that his manner had 
become more civil. “ Why, that must 
have been last winter, for the flowers 
take their lessons at Mother Nature’s 
dancing school in the winter-time, when 
they are under the ground.” 

“ Why, yes, I suppose it must have 
been,” replied the Princess, startled at 
the idea of having slept so long, “ be- 
cause the Thermometer went below zero. 
I remember distinctly about that , but 
how did I get here, then? ” 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 



“ Oh, you’ve just grown up again, 
that’s nothing,” said the Mosquito, “ but 
you surely ought to be improved after 
all your advantages. Not many people 
can take lessons from Mother Nature 
herself. I’ll go and see if I can’t get 
some one to help you out of this,” and 
he buzzed away. 

“ Thank goodness, he's gone! ” thought 
the Princess, peering out to watch him 
depart, “ and, oh, here come the Dryads 
back, and bringing my Fool — my dear 
old Fool — with them. Where did they 
find him and what are they going to do 
with him? Oh, deary me! I must call 
to him.” 

But struggle as she might she could 
not utter a sound above a whisper, and 
she finally sank back in silent despair. 

“Hark! what are they saying?” and 
she listened with all her ears. 

“ And so you were actually grow- 
ing? ” asked one. 

“ A fool — growing! ” laughed an- 

176 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 

other. “Tell me, when you grew ripe 
would you blossom into folly? ” 

“ Or very small potatoes? ” jeered a 
third. 

“ His cap would make a jewel-weed.” 
“ And his bells — harebells.” 

“ His age would make wintergreen.” 

“ Think you his love would be heart- 
ease or everlasting? ” 

“ I know his tongue would be bitter- 
sweet.” 

“ But are his lips tulips? ” 

“ And now we have found him, we’ll 
seek-no-f arther — we’ll seek-no-f arther,” 
they laughed. “My! what a nosegay ! ” 
The Fool gazed in bewilderment from 
one to another, and finally said: 

“ Beauties rare and fair, gadzook ! 

Why my quiet forest nook 

Have I suddenly forsook?” 

“ Oh, listen! listen! ” shouted the Dry- 
ads, clapping their hands in glee. “ He 
makes verses. A Fool! A Fool!” 

177 




THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ When by chance my nook you found, 

I was planted in the ground ; 

I’d have made a plant renowned 
When botanically gowned” — 

continued the Fool. 

“ Oh, yes, yes,” laughed the Dryads. 

“ You would have been a modest vio- 
let, no doubt,” suggested one. 

“No, a blushing rose,” said another. 

“ Come,” suggested the first Dryad. 
“ To give him another chance, let’s kiss 
him out of existence. Perhaps if he had 
a new start he might grow to something 
worth while.” 

“Yes, yes! let’s give him a start,” 
they all cried. “ A kiss for every ten 
years of life. Come, how many years 
have you lived, Fool? ” 

“ Well,” replied the Fool, “ I am old 
enough to be glad I’m alive, and not old 
enough to wish to be dead; I am old 
enough to enjoy a good dinner and 
young enough to digest it.” 

“ Oh, he won’t tell, he won’t tell! He 

178 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 

may be an old Fool and he may be a 
young one. Come, let us kiss him out 
of existence. Do you know who we 
are?” laughed the Dryads. 

“ The most charming ladies I have met 
in a long time,” replied the Fool, gal- 
lantly, bowing very low. 

“ Thank you,” returned the circle of 
Dryads, sweeping him curtsies in return, 
“ but we are not ladies at all. No, we 
are Dryads, spirits of the trees, free on 
this one night of all the year. We have 
each the power of the magic kiss, which, 
if bestowed upon a mortal, takes ten 
years from his life. Come now, don’t 
you want to he young again? ” 

“ Well, that depends,” replied the 
Fool, smiling his crooked, kindly smile. 
“ Would I have to lose this year just 
passed? ” 

“ Oh, of course,” chimed the Dryads. 
“ Why do you ask? ” 

“ Because,” said the Fool, gravely, “ I 
wouldn’t give up this last year, — no, 
179 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


not for all the world. But what a joke 
you are making of me! I’ll tell you 
what you may do: begin your kiss, sub- 
tracting at the other end of my life, and 
subtract all but the last year. Come, you 
can’t do it.” 

“ Punish him! punish him! ” cried the 
Dryads. 4 4 He doubts the power of the 
Dryad’s kiss. Let us all kiss him and 
make him a minus quantity,” and circling 
about him they sang: 

“ You scorn the power of the magic kiss, 

Ah ! what are you? — a Fool. 

You hold to some dear earthly bliss, 

Ah ! what are you ? — a Fool. 

We’ll take your years and cares from you 
And let you start the world anew ; 

You scorn our offer — what are you ? 

A Fool — a Fool ! ” 

As the song and the dance went on, 
one Dryad and then another approached 
the Fool and kissed him lightly on the 
forehead. 

44 Oh, dear! oh, dear! ” bewailed the 

180 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 

poor Princess, shut up in her lily-bud, 
“ they mustn’t, they mustn't do that. 
Oh, what will happen to him? They are 
bewitching him, the heartless, cruel crea- 
tures! How can they be so unkind! 
There! that’s ten, and that’s twenty, 
oh! oh! and the worst is, he doesn’t 
seem to mind it a bit. There! that’s 
thirty. Why, where is he? Where has 
he gone? Why, where have they all 
gone? ” for the song was still and the 
merry crowd had vanished and the forest 
was cool and quiet again. 

“ They have taken him away with 
them, and I must go, too, I must, in- 
deed,” whispered the Princess, but the 
lily-bud still held her prisoner. 

“ Oh, bother this old lily-bud! I must 
get out of here some way,” she an- 
nounced with decision, and was delighted 
to find her voice again. 

“ Well, send for the Snapdragon if 
you must. He’ll snap you out of here 
in a hurry,” said the Lily, impatiently, 
181 


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THE WISHBONE BOAT 


and shook her bell so that the Princess 
was in terror of falling out. 

“ Why! ” she gasped, when at last the 
Lily was still again, “ I didn’t know you 
were alive, and I didn’t dream you could 
hear me. I — I beg your pardon for 
calling you old, and if there are any 
dragons about, I think I’ll stay here if 
you don’t mind. I’m not very fond of 
dragons.” 

“ Suit yourself,” replied the Lily, 
coolly. “ This is a fine place to see from, 
and the ball will begin in a minute.” 

“ Ball! ” exclaimed the Princess, sit- 
ting up and rubbing her eyes, “ why, I 
don’t see anybody.” 

“Wait,” replied the Lily; “they’ll be 
here directly, and if you’ll promise to 
keep still, and not try to get out till 
you’re called for, nor speak till you’re 
spoken to, I’ll loosen all your bonds.” 

“ Oh, thank you,” said the Princess, 
gratefully. “ I’ll try to be very quiet, 
and if I forget, you must remind me.” 

182 




THE WISHBONE BOAT 



The oaks twisted their gnarled 
branches together, and their leaves formed 
a thick canopy overhead, through which 
the moonlight filtered in little rifts and 
splashes. 

Hundreds of fireflies were flitting 
about, lighting the darkness fitfully with 
their tiny lanterns. A slight breeze had 
sprung up. All the leaves seemed to 
be whispering together, and far off 
through the trees a broad ray of moon- 
light shone with a peculiar radiance and 
seemed to be slowly approaching. 

Nearer it came and nearer until it 
reached the glade where the Princess lay, 


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THE WISHBONE BOAT 


and looking up along its shining stretches, 
she saw that it reached on and on, - — a 
fairy road that led right up to the silver 
moon herself. 

Down this shimmering pathway the 
Princess saw descending a great crowd 
of gay and gorgeous creatures, gliding 
and dancing, jumping and flying, and 
crowding so fast and so far that the 
whole bright pathway seemed to be full 
of them. 

First came the moonlight sprites in 
luminous blue, and as they passed, the 
whole forest awakened and the dark 
places were made bright. In their train 
followed elves from the Milky Way, glit- 
tering with star-dust, cloud maidens in 
trailing mists of gray or draperies of 
sunsets, and then the glade shone like 
one great prism as the rainbow fairies 
roofed it with their flashing wings. 

Now came the butterflies of every col- 
our and size, from tiny ones of sky-blue 
to great black ones tipped with orange, 
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THE WISHBONE BOAT 


dragon-flies with bejewelled wings, bees 
in striped waistcoats, crickets in shining 
suits of black, and grasshoppers, ele- 
gantly slender, in pale green, ladybugs 
gowned in spreading polka-dots of red 
and black, and naiads in flowing draper- 
ies of silver twined with water-lilies. 

Last of all the mysterious throng came 
Oberon himself, driving in his pearly 
chariot with his great white moths be- 
fore, and when he had placed himself 
upon a little eminence and set loose his 
moths, the forest rang with the strains 
of the triumphal march played by the 
woodland orchestra. 

For the mosquitoes were sawing away 
at the fiddles, the katydids and crickets 
were busy with the violas and ’cellos, and 
the bullfrogs plunked away solemnly at 
the double basses. 

Then, at a wave of Oberon’s wand, 
the earth gnomes ran to awaken the 
sleeping flowers and bid them to the ball. 

“ Now is your chance,” whispered the 

l c 6 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 

trembling Lily to the Princess. “ Slip 
out when I open my petals, and remem- 
ber ‘ Beauty ’ is the password,” and in 
another instant a light touch fell upon 
the Lily, her petals slowly opened, and 
the Princess sprang quickly to the mossy 
bank beneath her. 

There was a great fluttering of wings 
and a hubbub of many voices, crying in 
shrill alarm, and the Princess found her- 
self seized and dragged before the 
throne. She heard Oberon’s voice com- 
manding silence, and the hush which fol- 
lowed frightened her even more than had 
the noise. 

“ I do hope I shall not forget the 
password,” she said to herself. Then 
she made her very best curtsey before the 
throne, and heard these words addressed 
to her: 

« A mortal who beholds a fairy rout 
Must lose his sight and memory to boot, 

And all who would escape this doom themselves 
Must know the password to the Court of Elves. 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


« Dost know the magic word ? Then tell us all 
Why thus you venture at the fairies’ ball ? ” 

“ The password’s ‘ Beauty/ your Maj- 
esty/’ breathed the Princess in affright, 
“ but how I came to be in the lily-bud 
I cannot tell you. I only know that I 
visited Mother Nature’s dancing school 
and grew up with the flowers. I went 
to find Beauty, your Majesty, for I wish 
to be beautiful.” 

Then Oberon flashed at her a smile 
so kindly that all her fears vanished, 
and she heard again his voice saying: 

« You’re one of us. Sit here and watch the ball. 

Come, tune your bells and string your fiddles all. 

My subjects here are bidden to the feast, 

So merrymake till dawn shall paint the east ; 

For with the coming of the morning light 
We scatter till the next Midsummer night.” 

And now began such a ball as the 
Princess had never dreamed of. Ober- 
on’s own moths, with wings of velvety 
white, circled with gaudy butterflies, the 
fluttering wings of the rainbow fairies 

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THE WISHBONE BOAT 


sent down shafts of red and blue and 
yellow light, and below, upon the green 
sward, the ladybugs bowed and curtsied 
to the gentlemanly crickets and the 
dragon-flies hovered devotedly over the 
naiads. 

Other guests from the forest began 
to arrive, — pop-eyed frogs, very elegant 
in their white shirt-bosoms, greenish yel- 
low vests, and spotted coats ; shining 
lizards in green, and solemn bats with 
hooked wings. The other dancers cleared 
the green for them, and an enormous 
lizard took the centre, armed with a long 
grass-blade (“ For all the world like the 
ringmaster at the circus,” thought the 
Princess), and soon the frogs, bats, liz- 
ards, crickets, and grasshoppers were 
racing about in a circle and springing 
into the air in great leaps and bounds. 
The crowd of onlookers cheered heartily 
at their queer antics, and the Princess 
laughed herself tired at one clown of 
a frog who always puffed out his cheeks 
189 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


and swelled out his waistcoat when he 
did anything especially well. 

At last the crickets and the grasshop- 
pers mounted the backs of the bullfrogs 
and tore about the circle in a mad race, 
jumping every now and then through 
hoops made of the ripe heads of dande- 
lions, and all the while the strings and 
reeds sang their shrillest and the double- 
basses growled and croaked hoarsely, till 
it sounded like a marsh on a summer 
night. 

The Princess thought she had never 
in her life seen anything so funny, and 
was almost sorry when the ring gave way 
to the latest arrivals, the flowers. It was 
easy to see that they had not forgotten 
their lessons at Mother Nature’s school, 
for they all seemed very sure of both 
place and partners, and, as the insects 
and fairies joined them in the dance, the 
glade became such a mass of shimmering 
colour that the Princess found it impos- 
sible to tell one from another. 


190 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 

“ It’s like my kaleidoscope,” she said 
to herself, “ or — no, it’s more like the 
colours that crowd in the soap-bubbles 
when the sun shines, only this is even 
more beautiful.” Then she heard a wee 
gnat of a page, bowing before the throne, 
announce that some strange folk were 
approaching who insisted on attending 
the ball. 

“ They call themselves ‘ dolls/ your 
Majesty,” piped the gnat. 

The Princess felt very much excited 
at this news. “ Oh, your Majesty,” she 
broke in, “ they are old friends of mine, 
and perfectly harmless. Do let them 
come.” 

“Perfectly harmless?” queried Ob- 
eron, smiling slyly. “ What about the 
toy cannon? ” 

“ Well,” admitted the Princess, sur- 
prised at the idea of his knowing of the 
little affair on the Ark, “ of course they 
didn’t behave very well then, but I’m 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


sure they didn’t mean any harm, and 
anyway it didn’t hurt me a bit.” 

“We will forgive them their mis- 
takes,” said Oberon, and at a sign from 
him the page vanished, only to reappear 
at once followed by the company of dolls. 

The Princess went forward to meet 
them very cordially and presented them 
to Oberon in her very best manner. 
When the formalities were finally over, 
she found herself again beside the Cow. 

“ Did you have a very pleasant sail? ” 
inquired the Princess. 

“ Not very,” admitted the Cow. “ You 
see, that Ark wasn’t well water-soaked, 
and she sprung a leak most terrible soon 
after you left us — I mean the last 
time.” Here the Cow looked at the 
Princess out of the corner of her eye 
and switched her tail nervously. 

“ Do you know,” she continued in a 
lower tone, “ that whole Noah family 
was so lazy that when the water kept 
a-coming in, they wouldn’t bail a bit, — 

192 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


said it hurt their stomachs to bend over, 
— and they actually made the animals 
drink up their share o’ bailings. Don’t 
you see how swelled up they all look? 
They’ll never be able to get back in the 
Ark again.” 

The Princess looked and caught sight 
of her old friend, the Elephant. “ I 
declare ! ” she exclaimed, “ there’s the 
Elephant; please call him over.” 

As she shook hands with the Elephant, 
she pulled down one of his great flap- 
ping ears and whispered: 

“ I would have to put my tongue in ; 
I couldn’t help it, you know, and I don’t 
believe I want gold teeth, anyway.” 

“ Oh, no, indeed,” replied the Ele- 
phant, gravely, “ they are quite out of 
style. The newest thing is something 
in porcelain; can’t tell it from the real 
article. Just let me show you some sam- 
ples,” and he began opening his sample- 
case. 

“No, no!” 

193 


replied the Princess, 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 

quickly, “ not now, please. I want to 
present you to the King. 

“ Your Majesty,” she said, speaking 
quite loudly, “ may I have the pleasure of 
presenting to your Majesty my friend, 
the — ” the Princess had meant to say 
the Elephant, but instead she said, “ the 
Dentist.” 

“ Teeth extracted without pain while 
you wait,” murmured the Elephant, as 
he bowed as low as he conveniently could 
before the throne. 

Oberon gave him a most gracious wel- 
come, and said, smiling: “I’m not sure 
that I ever heard before of the Dentist. 
Won’t you tell me, please, where you 
grow? I should enjoy hearing some- 
thing about you.” 

The Elephant was quite overwhelmed. 

“ With your Majesty’s permission,” he 
said, “ I will sing a little composition of 
my own, which is slightly — er — auto- 
biographical.” 

Here the Princess saw the King lean 

194 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


over and whisper to the page: “ Run ask 
the Court Sun-dial what ‘ autobiograph- 
ical ’ means,” but he waved permission 
to the Elephant, who put down his sam- 
ple-case and high hat with care, and 
began to dance a funny rhythmic shuffle 
as he sang: 

“ There was a roving Elephant of disposition gay 
Who used to go a-travelling in the most erratic way. 
He travelled north, he travelled south, he travelled east 
and west, 

And no matter where you met him, he’d a jolly laugh 
and jest ; 

He could tell a funny story, he could dance a little jig, 
With his twinkling eyes so little and his flapping 
ears so big ; 

He loved to be the centre of a large, admiring throng, 
And when he felt especially good he’d sing this 
little song. 

“ ‘ I’m a wise old Elephant, so gay and debonair, 

And it’s right straight down the middle that I always 
part my hair. 

My coat may be a trifle large, my trousers may have 
shrunk, 

But you’d be surprised to see the things I carry in my 
trunk.’ 


195 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ I met him on an iceberg in the frozen Polar sea, 

I met him down in Russia, drinking lemon -flavoured 
tea 

I met him in the desert on a dromedary’s back, 

And next in ‘ dear old Lunnon ’ calmly riding in a 
hack. 

From New York to San Francisco, and from Canton 
to Paree, 

I found him taking in the sights, as gay as gay 
could be. 

And no matter where I found him, whether London or 
Hongkong, 

He was ready with his stories and his funny little 
song. 

“ ‘ I’m a wise old Elephant, so gay and debonair, 

And it’s right straight down the middle that I 
always part my hair. 

My coat may be a trifle large, my trousers may have 
shrunk, 

But you’d be surprised to see the things I carry in 
my trunk.’ ’ 

“ Capital!” exclaimed the King, when 
the song was over, and there was a great 
cheering among the company, to which 
the Elephant bowed gravely. 

“ Would you mind telling me what 
you do carry in your trunk? ” whispered 
the Princess. 


196 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“ Not at all, if you’ll keep it to your- 
self,” replied the Elephant. “ I don’t 
carry a single thing. You see, if the 
inspectors found it out, they might make 
me pay excess baggage.” 

“ Oh, I won’t mention it,” replied the. 
puzzled Princess, and just then she heard 
the King asking the dolls to dance for 
the pleasure and profit of his subjects, 
and saw the military clicking their heels 
and bowing before all the delighted lady 
dolls, and soon the dance began. 

“ I do hope they will dance their pret- 
tiest,” said the Princess to herself. 

Somebody was grinding a toy music- 
box, and as the “ tick-ee-tick-ee-tick-ee- 
tick!” began, the little arms flew in and 
out again and the little feet pattered up 
and down with automatic precision. 

One, two, three, jerk to the left. One, 
two, three, jerk to the right. One, two, 
three, one, two, three, and everybody 
bowed as though hinged at the waist. 
Somewhere, an irrepressible Dandelion 
197 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 



snickered to a Bumblebee, who was 
bending over her devotedly, 4 4 Aren’t they 
perfectly ridiculous? ” and the Princess, 
overhearing it, blushed with vexation for 
her friends, the dolls. 


44 Poor dears,” she murmured to her- 
self, 44 they don’t seem so very attractive 
out here among Mother Nature’s beau- 
ties. They have no grace of bearing, 
and the Dryads, who are so full of grace 
and charm, have no heart, — no sympa- 
thy nor kindness. They don’t seem beau- 
tiful to me any more. What can they 
have done with my Fool? I must find 
him. I’ll ask — ” but just then a burst 
of light laughter was heard in the dis- 
tance, and the sound of singing coming 



nearer and nearer, until the circle of 
Dryads, hand in hand, swept up to the 
foot of Oberon’s throne and did him 
homage. 

Then Oberon looked well pleased and 
stretched forth his hand toward them 
and said: 


198 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“Oli, lovely maidens — spirits of the oak, 

T love to hear you sing such joy as this ; 

What kind and loving message have you spoke, 

To what use have you put the Dryad’s kiss, 

This sweet Midsummer evening? ” 

The Dryads hung their heads and 
spoke never a word, and the Princess, 
gaining courage from her great desire 
to find the Fool, stepped forward and 
knelt at the foot of the throne. 

“ Oh, your Majesty,” she begged, 
“ will you not ask these maidens what 
they have done with my dear friend, the 
Fool, for they have taken him away and 
I cannot find him.” 

Oberon looked at the Dryads, who 
fell upon their knees before him, and his 
face grew very grave as he said: 

“ Speak, mortal maid, and tell me without fear 
All that has happened in the forest here.” 

Then the Princess told him all she had 
seen while imprisoned in the lily-bud, 
and when the King heard of the mischief 
which the Dryads had done, he was very 
199 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


angry, and his face was darkened as he 
said: 

. '.I-'': 

“ Those who have magic power should use it well ; 
’Twas given for good, and not for evil spell, 

And punishment shall come to those who use 
Their gifts immortal for the least abuse. 

Where is the Fool ? ” 

The frightened Dryads clasped their 
hands beseechingly and plead: 

“ Pardon, your Majesty, ’twas but a jest, 

A sorry one, if all must be contest 
’Twas but a poor Fool, crooked-backed and thin 
And drest in motley — what had he to win ? 

Oh, please, your Majesty, was it a sin 
To rub the sum out and again begin 
The problem ? We thought ’twas for the best. 
Pardon, your Majesty ! — ’twas but a jest.” 

And Oberon replied gravely: 

u A sorry jest indeed ! Was it for this 
I gave to you the magic of the kiss ? 

Nay, then ! ’twas meant for mother’s weary face 
When little arms cling fast in soft embrace. 

Or for the brow of age when, labours done, 

They turn their faces toward life’s setting sun. 

You have abused your gifts ; return to oak, 

And ne’er appear again to mortal folk.” 


200 




THE WISHBONE BOAT 


The Princess uttered a little cry and 
caught at the hem of Oberon’s garment. 
“ Oh, is he then gone,” she cried, “ gone 
never to return? Oh, give him back to 
me, your Majesty. Take all else that I 
have ; my kingdom, my wealth, my 
power. I will ask for nothing. I will 
not even ask to be beautiful, only give 
to me again my own dear Fool to be my 
very own.” 

Then a great light shone in the face of 
Oberon, and he said: 

“ Rise, Lady Princess, your quest is 
ended. You have found the seed from 
which all Beauty springs,” and turning 
to the waiting Dryads, he commanded, 
“ Bring forth the Fool.” 

The Dryads formed themselves in two 
circles and wove in and out from one 
to the other, chanting a weird strain. 
Soon in the centre of the circle appeared 
a large black caldron, and all about it 
and close up to it danced circle on circle 
of flame-fairies in blue and violet and 
201 



.r'- 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 

flame-colour and black, and the caldron 
began to steam and bubble and seethe, 
and the chant of the Dryads rose higher 
and higher: 

“ I’ll add a soft heart,” sang one. 

“ And a hard head,” echoed another. 

“ And a sharp tongue.” 

“ And a pretty wit.” 

“ And an empty purse.” 

“ And all unselfishness and love and 
purity.” 

“ And an outside all crooked and mot- 
ley." 

“ And an outside all crooked and mot- 
ley,” chanted the circle, weaving faster 
and faster, and suddenly the caldron 
and the flame-fairies and the Dryads 
had all vanished, and in the place where 
they had been stood the Fool, smiling 
his old, quizzical, crooked smile. 

“You! You!” cried the Princess, 
throwing her arms about his neck and 
kissing him. “Now I am perfectly 
happy.” 

202 


7 




THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“At last!” breathed the Fool, fold- 
ing her to his heart. 

Then all the air was full of the flut- 
tering of wings, and the perfume of 
flowers, and the soft twittering of birds, 
and Oberon’s voice like a great distant 
bell, singing : 

“ Farewell, my children, you have found the best 
That comes to mortals in this world of strife. 

Plant seeds of love, and when you harvest life, 

’Twill blossom ripe with Beauty. As bequest, 

I place you now beneath the Wishing Bell ; 

Take one last wish into the world. — Farewell.” 

And the Princess and the Fool found 
themselves standing on the raised dais 
in the great luminous Wishing Bell. 

The Princess looked into the Fool’s 
eyes, and whispered, “ May I wish first? ” 
and the Fool smiled back assent. 

Then the Princess stepped back one 
step, closed her eyes, and said, slowly, 
“ I wish for you to — be — straight, 
and as — you — were — the — last — 
time.” 


THE WISHBONE BOAT 


She hesitated a moment, and then 
slowly opened her eyes to see again her 
straight and handsome Prince beside her. 
With a little cry of joy she put her two 
hands in his, and said: “ It’s your turn, 
now.” 

“ Look in my eyes,” whispered the 
Fool, and, after gazing a moment, he 
said, “ I have nothing left to wish for.” 

“ Oh,” whispered the Princess in dis- 
may, “ I forgot all about myself — am 
I just as homely as ever? ” 

“ Look in the Wishing Bell,” said the 
Fool, tenderly. 

The Princess looked, and saw that she 
was very fair to see; more beautiful, 
indeed, than she had ever dreamed of 
being, for the lips were full of sweetness 
and the eyes of tenderness, and all about 
her hung the glory of the charmstring. 
She turned, and smiled happily at the 
Fool. “ I am glad I am beautiful, for 
your sake,” she said. 


204 



THE WISHBONE BOAT 


“You were always beautiful to me,” 
he whispered back. 

Then the Wishing Bell began to ring 
with a deep, sweet note which grew 
fainter as the bell lifted like a summer 
cloud, melted into thin lines like smoke, 
and finally disappeared altogether. All 
the other bells took up the strain till 
the air was full of the chiming, and the 
Princess and her Prince found them- 
selves walking down the main aisle of 
the cathedral with the bells all a- jangle, 
and the wedding march pealing out tri- 
umphantly above them, and the white- 
robed Bishop awaiting them at the blaz- 
ing altar before the assembled Court. 

And so they were married, and lived 
happily for ever after. 


THE END. 


205 


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